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Life of 

General Philip Schuyler 

1733-1804 



By 
BAYARD TUCKERMAN 



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New York 
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1903 



Copyright, 1903, by 
Dodd, Mead and Company 



First edition published 
September, 1903 



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THE LIBRARY OF 
COMbKcSS. 


Two Copies 


Recaivee 


OCT 16 


190? 


Cop>rig;-it Entry 
cuss Ot wo, Mo 

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1 COPY a. 



HILL AND LEONARD 
NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A. 



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PREFACE 

THIS memoir is based on General Schuyler's 
papers and letter books, on the Gates 
papers belonging to the New York His- 
torical Society, on the archives of the State Depart- 
ment in Washington, and on some other collections 
of original historical material. 

Bayard Tuckerman. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

The Province of New York — The Hudson River Manors — 
The Schuyler Family I 

CHAPTER II. 
Youth of Philip Schuyler — The French and Indian War... 32 

CHAPTER III. 

A Visit to England — Home and Business Life — Member 
of Provincial Assembly — The Revolution — Appointed 
Major-General 65 

CHAPTER IV. 

Schuyler in Command of the Northern Department — The 

Invasion of Canada — The Johnsons and Tories 93 

CHAPTER V. 

Failure of the Expedition Against Canada — New England 
Hostility to Schuyler — The Efforts of Gates to Supplant 
Him 129 

CHAPTER VI. 

Burgoyne's Invasion — Evacuation of Ticonderoga — Schuy- 
ler's Military Operations 169 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

British Defeats at Bennington and in the Mohawk Valley — 
Bright Prospects of the American Army — Schuyler 
Superseded by Gates — Saratoga — Last Services During 
the War 209 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Schuyler's Political Career After the Revolution — His Part 
in the Development of New York State — His Family 
Life 248 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

General Philip Schuyler Frontispiece 

Schuyler House at Albany 68 

Map of the Northern Department 170 



Life of 
General Philip Schuyler 

Chapter I. 

The Province of New York. — The Hudson River 
Manors. — The Schuyler Family. 

FROM the days when Philip Schuyler led his 
company of provincials in the forest fights of 
the French and Indian War, until he sat in 
the Senate of the United States as the representative 
of the State of New York, there elapsed about forty 
years. These years were replete with momentous 
changes for his country, and with patriotic thought 
and action on the part of Schuyler. The victory of 
Wolfe ended the long and bloody struggle between 
England and France for supremacy in North America. 
Thenceforth the English Colonies, which yet only 
skirted the Atlantic coast, were free to carry westward 
their course of empire. And, what was even more 
important, the colonists, relieved from the threatening 
pressure of French aggression, were enabled to sast 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

off the paralyzing reliance on the protection of the 
mother country; they were inspired to determine rea- 
sonably and to assert courageously their rights as free 
men ; finally to wring independence from the powerful 
England of Pitt, and to establish on enduring founda- 
tions a mighty nation. Those stirring years called 
as much for high thinking as for gallant fighting, and 
a patriot in that time had many parts to play. 

The province of New York, in the middle of the 
eighteenth century, was a fringe of settlements on the 
Hudson River, Manhattan Island and Long Island. 
The town of New York, marked by nature as the 
principal seaport of the Atlantic coast, contained the 
mass of the population. Along the banks of the 
Hudson River, scattered here and there through the 
vast expanse of forest, wherever nature offered least 
resistance to man, rose the farmhouses of Dutch and 
English settlers. At the northern end of the great 
watery highway stood Albany, the headquarters of 
the fur trade, the gateway to Canada and the western 
lakes. 

As the boy Is father to the man, the town of New 
York in its infancy of fourteen thousand inhabitants 
presented features which were destined to characterize 
the city throughout its magnificent growth. While 
Boston and Philadelphia were English towns. New 
York was cosmopolitan from the first. The Dutch 
predominated, followed by the English and French. 
While the English tongue was steadily making its way 



COLONIAL NEW YORK 

as the language of the province, forcing the domines 
to adopt it in their churches, Dutch and French were 
heard on every side. The same variety prevailed in 
religion. The Dutch Reformed, the Lutherans, the 
Presbyterians and the Episcopalians had their 
churches, and a synagogue was not wanting. The 
different nationalities, still looking to Europe for their 
standards of life, kept up as they could the customs 
and ambitions of the fatherland. The Dutchman, 
grown rich through the fur trade or the brewery, 
built his new house of brick with gable end to the 
street and roofed it with tiles imported from Holland. 
The English merchant or landed proprietor adopted 
the style which we call colonial with its simple and 
beautiful front extended toward the street. Within 
these doorways were to be found the furniture and 
the customs of the land still regarded as home. 

At the foot of Broadway stood Government House, 
the political and usually the social centre. There 
the English Governor lived in some state, and gath- 
ered about him was a little court composed of the 
provincial aristocracy, the proprietary families, the 
wealthier merchants, the lawyers, the clergymen and 
the officers of the garrison. Among these people 
was no little social activity, and when, on Sundays and 
holidays, they gathered to take the air on the Battery 
or the Mall, the lesser sort were expected not to 
approach too near. From this aristocratic circle the 
social scale descended through the tradesmen, the 

3 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

mechanics, the shifting crowd of laborers and sailors 
to the negro slaves. As emigrants arrived, there was 
no lack of opportunity for employment, and the in- 
dustrious soon made their way forward to comfort. 

On the west side of Broadway, the pretty English 
and Dutch gardens of the principal houses sloped to 
the shore of the Hudson River. The most thickly 
inhabited district lay on the east side, between the 
dwellings on Broadway and the warehouses on the 
East River. But even here the buildings were de- 
tached, and the trees were so numerous that from 
the deck of the approaching vessel the town seemed 
built in a wood. Above Maiden Lane extended 
farms and orchards, watered by ponds and running 
streams. 

It was for material advancement that the seas had 
been crossed, and the pursuit of gain was the absorb- 
ing thought of the population. Nothing, as we are 
told by an intelligent contemporary, was more neg- 
lected than reading and education. While New 
England, with less wealth, had two colleges, it was 
not until 1754 that New York saw the founding of 
King's College. In the absence of mental cultiva- 
tion, as reached through books or the arts, the inhab- 
itants had much to stimulate their intelligence. The 
problems presented by life in a new country enclosed 
between the wilderness and the sea, the contest against 
nature and the effort to establish trade in the face of 
artificial obstacles, all tended to develop industry, 

4 



COLONIAL NEW YORK 

perseverance and ingenuity. Two great causes of 
division existed, provocative of much debate and 
tending to prepare the minds of men for the greater 
questions of public policy soon to be forced upon them. 
These were the struggle for supremacy between aris- 
tocratic and democratic sentiments, and, akin to it, 
the contest between episcopacy and the other Protes- 
tant bodies. The aristocratic traditions of the old 
world were adhered to by a majority of the upper 
classes, but some powerful families, like the Delanceys, 
and the mass of the people were becoming yearly 
more democratic. The effort to make the Episcopal 
church the established religion of the province aroused 
the strenuous opposition of other religious denomina- 
tions. The party lines drawn on these subjects were 
not wholly decided by wealth. The proprietor of 
land, whose ambition was to found a family of which 
the property and dignity should be entailed, might be 
a Presbyterian fighting the pretensions of episcopacy. 
The Episcopal merchant, maintaining the desirabihty 
of a state church, might oppose the aristocratic ten- 
dencies of a lord of the manor. The relations of 
the province to England contained much that was 
irritating, and the mental attitude of the people was 
constantly becoming more independent and self- 
reliant. Even in the cabinet at Versailles It was fore- 
seen that England would find It difficult to keep her 
colonies In subjection when the fall of New France 
removed the need of protection. 

5 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

While the busy streets, fine houses and social amuse- 
ments of New York made it seem a great capital to 
the country dweller, and a very seat of luxury to the 
trader emerging from the forest, Albany was a primi- 
tive Dutch town, in which homely labors and simple 
amusements were varied only by the excitements 
incidental to its frontier position. The town stood 
on the side of the hill which formed the west bank 
of the Hudson, its few streets lined by gabled Dutch 
houses, some built with great solidity and no little 
beauty, all neatly kept. From each roof extended a 
spout, which in rainy weather cast a small cascade 
upon the pedestrian. Each house had the traditional 
stoop upon which the family sat In the evening ex- 
changing salutations with the passers-by. A crum- 
bling fort, useless except against Indians, represented 
the military power. The church stood prominent as 
the most important edifice, its windows adorned by 
the coats of arms of the principal families. Christen- 
ings, marriages and funerals were the chief causes of 
social reunion or excitement. The women were ab- 
sorbed in the ceaseless round of household duties in 
which they maintained the hereditary standard of 
Dutch neatness. Even in the wealthy families, there 
were no servants except the negro slaves, who were 
unequal to relieving their mistresses of more than 
the drudgery. 

An ambitious young man took up the career which 
contained the greatest promise of reward, the fur 

6 



COLONIAL ALBANY 

trade. For success, he needed all his hardihood and 
endurance. It was his perilous task to paddle a 
canoe, laden with hatchets, blankets, gunpowder, and 
rum, through the watery highways and byways of 
the forest; to seek his trade among the distant and 
roving savages; to paddle homeward his load of 
peltries, never secure until the canoe floated again 
upon the safe waters of the Hudson. When he did 
not return, his friends could only conjecture, whether 
the tomahawk of a covetous savage, or the whirling 
rapids, or the privations of the forest, had caused 
his end. Success meant the building of a sloop, the 
extension of trade to New York, even to the West 
Indies, the investment of gains in tracts of wild land, 
which had to be cleared, settled and made a source 
of income to the now wealthy father of a family. On 
the part of both women and men, the circumstances 
of life called for the cultivation of the qualities of 
industry and courage, while the intellectual and social 
side was of necessity neglected. This was true, only 
in a less degree, of the aristocracy of the town, the 
Van Rensselaers, the Schuylers, the Ten Broecks, the 
Cuylers and other allied families. It was a virtuous 
and orderly community, in which the domlne had little 
to do but to expound the Gospel and comfort the 
sick. 

The calm routine of Albany was rudely broken 
by the French and Indian War. As the headquarters 
for northern operations, the town became the rendez- 

? 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

vous of scarlet-coated regiments, of boat-builders and 
militia. At times, the regular inhabitants seemed 
lost in the crowd, and the influx of rough men caused 
such disorders that the Mayor told the English com- 
mander that If he would take his men back to New 
York the Dutch would defend their frontiers them- 
selves. The dances and plays introduced Into the 
staid society of the place by the officers In garrison 
upset all the preconceived ideas of propriety, and 
fears for the spiritual welfare of his flock hastened 
the death of old domlne Frellnghuysen. 

Connecting the frontier town of the province with 
its capital and seaport, flowed the majestic Hudson, 
the great, almost the only highway for transportation 
and travel, and the natural feature of the country of 
the highest interest to the inhabitants. The sloops 
which tacked up and down its beautiful course fulfilled 
all the objects of railway, steamboat and telegraph. 
The movement of lumber and produce between the 
settlements, the exchange of business or social visits 
sought the pathway of the great river. It was with 
a sense of isolation that the inhabitants saw their 
road to market and to friends closed by the hand of 
winter; and In the spring, the distant boom which 
announced the breaking up of the ice was welcomed 
alike by the trader, the farmer and the Inmates of 
the manor house, who sought a view of the frozen 
river to watch with pleasurable anticipations the 
cracking and motion of its surface. In the cabinets 



THE HUDSON RIVER FAMILIES 

of Versailles and of London, where ministers of state 
bent over the map of America, the Hudson River, 
how to use, to gain or to defend it, was the absorbing 
consideration. The changes of time have altered the 
uses and the meaning of the Hudson. Its beauties 
and its romance enshrined in the immortal words of 
Irving, its shores adorned by fruitful farms and noble 
country seats, the river flows on as of old, a source of 
pride and pleasure to the living, and a bond of asso- 
ciation with the generations of the past who loved to 
live along Its wooded slopes. 

In the middle of the eighteenth century, there were 
four families in the province of New York whose 
intimate connection with each other and whose com- 
mon interests on the Hudson River make them a part 
of the time and events which we are considering. 
These were the Van Rensselaers, the Schuylers, the 
Van Cortlandts and the Livingstons. The first three 
were Dutch; the ancestor of the fourth was Scotch, 
but his descendants had more Dutch than Scotch 
blood. All were proprietary families, so connected 
by marriage, Intimacy and business interests that their 
Influence was usually exerted in harmony and was 
considerable in a community still dominated by aris- 
tocratic ideas. 

Of these families, the first to be established In 
New York and the only one which had the advantage 
of any wealth in the beginning, was that of Van 
Rensselaer. In 1629, the Dutch West India Com- 

9 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

pany, which had planted the colony called New 
Netherland, realized its inability as a purely trading 
company to settle its territory with agricultural 
colonists whose presence would give value to the land. 
As the population of Holland was not so exuberant as 
to cause a natural overflow, it was necessary to offer 
special Inducements to emigrants. The company 
hoped to shift upon individuals the expenses and risks 
involved, and in pursuance of that poHcy, Invented 
the system of patroonships, founded on a national 
prejudice. The wealthy Dutch burgher nourished 
the ambition to rise in the social scale by becoming 
a proprietor of land and attaining the dignity thereto 
associated. In thickly settled Holland, the possibili- 
ties In this direction were exceedingly limited. To 
this ambition the West India Company offered a 
feudal lordship In New Netherland on condition of 
planting and maintaining there a colony of actual 
settlers. The offer was accepted in several cases, but 
in all, except in that of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, the 
attempt was unsuccessful; the system was soon dis- 
avowed by the company, who bought up or abolished 
the rights already granted to patroons. They en- 
deavoured also to obtain possession of Rennselaer- 
wyck, but were balked by the persistency of that 
family, who made the sole permanent establishment 
of a patroonshlp. 

Rennselaerwyck was a tract of land beginning at 
the mouth of the Mohawk River, extending south- 

10 



THE HUDSON RIVER FAMILIES 

ward twenty-four miles along the banks of the Hud- 
son, and on either side of that river twenty-four miles 
east and west. It contained about seven hundred 
thousand acres; the present cities of Albany and Troy 
are within its limits. The family afterwards became 
possessed of Claverack, sometimes called the Lower 
Manor, containing sixty-two thousand acres, the land- 
ing place of which is now the town of Hudson. The 
territory of Rensselaerwyck was diminished from time 
to time from various causes, but it remained the 
largest estate in the province. 

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer was a director in the West 
India Company and a merchant of Amsterdam whose 
family had formerly possessed a manorial estate in 
Gelderland, adjoining that of John of Barneveld's 
family. He died in 1646 and never visited America. 
Nor did his son Johannes, the second patroon, who 
died young, leaving a son Kiliaen, the third patroon, 
who came to Albany and received from the English 
government the patent which changed the patroonship 
in New Netherland into a manor in the province of 
New York. Two years later, in 1687, he died with- 
out children. 

During the life of the first patroon, the colony 
was managed by his cousin, Arent Van Corlear, whose 
dealings with the Indians were so tactful and just 
that for more than a century afterwards the inhabit- 
ants of Albany were personified in their language 
by the word "Corlear." He was succeeded by Van 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Schlectenhorst, a man who needed all his rude courage 
to maintain the rights of the patroon against the 
assaults of Peter Stuyvesant, who, as director general 
of New Netherland, was hostile to the semi-independ- 
ence of Rensselaerwyck. The feudal sovereignty 
claimed by the patroon and the consequent quarrels 
with the government at New Amsterdam are illus- 
trated rather amusingly by the following incident. 
Govert Lookermans, a well known citizen of New 
Amsterdam, brother-in-law of Oloff Stevense Van 
Cortlandt, had been up to the Mohawk River trading 
with the Indians. On his return he sat smoking at 
the helm of his little sloop as she drifted slowly by 
the fort at Rensselaerwyck. One Nicholas Koorn, 
lately appointed "watchmeeister," bawled at him from 
the palisades, "Strike your flagl" "For whom shall 
I strike?" inquired Lookermans. "For the staple 
right of Rensselaerstein ! " " I strike for no man," 
replied Lookermans contemptuously, "but the Prince 
of Orange and those by whom I am employed." Be- 
fore he could pass out of range a cannon boomed and 
a shot struck the "princely flag" just above his head. 
The wrath of Lookermans lost no strength during the 
days which elapsed before his peltry laden sloop came 
to anchor in the East River, and at the report which 
he carried to the governor, old Stuyvesant stamped 
his wooden leg with rage. 

Three of the younger sons of the first patroon acted 
In turn as agents. One of these, Jeremias, lived at 



THE HUDSON RIVER FAMILIES 

Rensselaerwyck for seventeen years and died there. 
He married the daughter of Oloff Stevense Van Cort- 
landt, and one of his daughters married Peter Schuy- 
ler. Until 1695, Rensselaerwyck remained part of 
the first patroon's undivided estate. In that year the 
representative of the older branch of the family in 
Holland, named Klllaen, came out to Albany, met 
the representative of the younger branch, also named 
Killaen, and together they agreed that the older 
branch should take all the property In Holland and 
the younger all that in America. Thus Rennselaer- 
wyck came Into the possession of the children of 
Jeremias, younger son of the first patroon. These 
were Klliaen, Hendrick and two daughters. Killaen, 
as eldest son, took Rensselaerwyck proper, becoming 
fourth patroon and second lord of the manor. Hen- 
drick took the estate of Claverack, and the daughters 
each received a farm. 

When Killaen Van Rensselaer came out from Hol- 
land to make a settlement with his cousin Killaen in 
America, he was no doubt well pleased with the result. 
When he contrasted his life in the advanced civiliza- 
tion of Amsterdam with the problems of existence 
amidst the forests of the new world, he must have 
been glad to leave their solution to his relations. The 
American Van Rensselaers, although possessing privi- 
leges and a vast domain, were far from being placed 
beyond the common cares and efforts of their fellow 
colonists. The land was unproductive without the 

13 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

labor of man. Slowly tenants were induced to settle 
at a nominal rent, who would fell the trees, plant 
wheat among the stumps and raise human dwellings 
through the hunting grounds of the savage. Grad- 
ually the elk and the deer became less frequent; year 
by year, the sound of the axe was heard deeper in 
the forest; one wild stream after another was set to 
work and its pleasant voice lost in the rasping of the 
saw. The colony founded by the enterprising mer- 
chant of Amsterdam yielded no profit to him. The 
descendants of his younger son reaped the advantage 
of the efforts and growth of a long series of years. By 
the middle of the eighteenth century Rensselaerwyck 
and Claverack contained many fine farms and a nu- 
merous tenantry. The proprietors lived quiet and 
uneventful lives, possessing much influence, but taking 
little part in public affairs. The Dutch title of patroon 
clung to the head of the family until 1839, a curious 
survival of an outgrown past. Philip Schuyler mar- 
ried a Van Rensselaer of Claverack, his daughter mar- 
ried the last patroon, and his son the patroon's sister. 
When the ship "Haring" cast anchor off the fort at 
New Amsterdam in 1637, with supplies and a gar- 
rison for the little trading settlement, there landed 
among the common soldiers one called Oloff Stevense, 
afterwards known as Van Cortlandt. Young, poor, 
ambitious, he had sailed away from Holland to carve 
out for himself in a distant wilderness a career and 
a fortune of which he saw small prospect at home. 

14 



THE HUDSON RIVER FAMILIES 

He soon left his messmates in the fort and entered 
the civil service of the company, where his education 
and industry caused his promotion to be keeper of the 
stores. The ready money saved in this employment 
enabled him to begin business for himself. Trade in 
furs increased his resources ; he established a brewery 
in Whitehall Street and soon became a leading man, 
respected as much for his character as for his wealth. 
He was successively captain of the train band, one 
of the Nine Men, the first representative body in the 
colony, a signer of the Remonstrance to the States 
General against the tyranny of Stuyvesant, burgo- 
master, a delegate to Hartford in 1663 to settle the 
New England boundaries, and one of the commis- 
sioners chosen to negotiate with Governor Nichols 
the surrender of the province to England in 1664. 
Before his death, in 1684, he had reached the goal 
of his ambition, as regarded both his own position 
and that of his children. His daughter married 
Frederick Philipse, the proprietor of the manor at 
Philipsburg, now Yonkers. His second son, Jacobus, 
married Eve Philipse, the heiress of extensive lands in 
Westchester County, and their daughter was the 
mother of John Jay. 

The eldest son, Stephanus, the founder of the 
manor of Cortlandt, married Gertruyd, the daughter 
of Philip Pieterse Schuyler. Like his father, Ste- 
phanus was a man of energy, force and breadth of 

15 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

character, ready to serve his country as well as him- 
self. He accumulated a considerable property of his 
own independently of that left him by his father. In 
1677, when thirty- four years old, he was appointed 
Mayor of New York and was the first native born 
citizen to hold that office. In 1680, he became a 
member of the King's Council and retained his seat 
until his death, except during the two years of Leisler's 
usurpation, during which exciting period he was 
obliged to seek refuge in turn at Albany, in New 
England and New Jersey. The absence of legal edu- 
cation in the province caused the appointment of 
intelligent laymen to judicial positions, and Van 
Cortlandt sat on the bench as justice of the Supreme 
Court and as the first judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas of King's County. He was always a valued 
adviser of the English governors, and for many years 
was entrusted by them with the collection of the 
provincial revenues. 

As soon as his means allowed, Stephanus Van Cort- 
landt gratified his ambition to become the proprietor 
of a manor. He purchased from the Indians a tract 
on the east side of the Hudson, beginning at the 
mouth of the Croton River, extending northward to 
Anthony's Nose and to the eastward twenty miles into 
the woods, for which he received a patent from 
William III. "The old manor house still stands, pro- 
tected by a hill from the north winds and looking 
southward for manv miles over the Tappan See. It 

16 



THE HUDSON RIVER FAMILIES 

has always been inhabited by descendants of the 
founder of the manor, and its hospitality was ever 
the dependence of travellers journeying up and down 
the river. From its veranda George Whitefield 
preached. During the Revolution, Franklin, Wash- 
ington, Rochambeau, Lafayette and Luzerne were its 
guests. It is probably the best example of a colonial 
house built for defence as well as for residence. Its 
thick stone walls pierced by loop holes for musketry, 
the Indian arrow heads which are picked up in its 
beautiful garden, make it an interesting relic of the 
past. 

Stephanus Van Cortlandt had numerous children 
who married into the Van Rensselaer, Schuyler, de 
Peyster, de Lancey, Bayard and Beeckman families. 
His youngest daughter, Cornelia, was the mother of 
General Philip Schuyler. At the time of the Revolu- 
tion, the proprietor of the manor was Pierre Van 
Cortlandt, who, with his son Pierre, rejected the 
overtures of Governor Tryon and supported with 
energy the patriot cause. The father was a member 
of the first provincial Congress and president of the 
Committee of Public Safety. The son became a 
lieutenant colonel in the continental service. 

The Van Rensselaer, Schuyler and Van Cortlandt 
families had been established for many years in the 
province when Robert Livingston arrived in 1674, at 
the same time that Governor Andros came to manage 
the colony for the Duke of York. Of worldly goods 

17 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

he brought httle or nothing, but a great store of 
ambition and industry. His great-grandfather, his 
grandfather and his father were ministers of the 
church of Scotland. His father, banished for non- 
conformity, passed the last years of his life at Rotter- 
dam, where Robert obtained the famiharity with the 
Dutch language and people which was so useful to 
him in America. Although he was imbued with the 
religion of his ancestors, its profession did not appeal 
to his adventurous and acquisitive character. It was 
at the age of twenty that he ascended the Hudson 
River to the frontier town of Albany, and obtained 
the position of secretary to the commissioners to 
whom was entrusted the local government. With a 
thrift both Scotch and Dutch, he saved enough from 
his salary and fees to begin trading. In nine years 
he was sufficiently well off to make his first purchase 
of land on the east bank of the Hudson; and in 1683 
he married Alyda, daughter of Philip Pieterse 
Schuyler, and widow of Rev. Nicholas Van Rensse- 
laer. In 1686, he received the patent erecting his 
lands into the manor of Livingston. In 1692, he 
built a small house above Livingston Creek, but he 
did not begin to live there until 171 1, his official 
duties requiring his presence at Albany. He died in 
1728. At the time of the Revolution, several de- 
scendants of his were men of exceptional distinction 
and influence: Wilham Livingston, of New Jersey; 
Philip, signer of the Declaration of Independence; 

18 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

Robert R., the chancellor of New York; and Edward, 
the author of the Louisiana Code. 

During the earlier years of the province of New 
York, before the issues involved in the Revolution 
were raised, the most important public interest of the 
inhabitants — the danger which touched them most 
nearly — was the attitude toward them of the Indian 
Confederacy called the Six Nations. Intelhgent, 
ferocious, and jealous of encroachment, these savages 
lived at the very doors of the province; they barred 
the road to the West, and were capable of overwhelm- 
ing the settlements about Albany and on the Hudson 
River. Moreover, the almost continuous hostility 
between the French in Canada and the English 
colonists gave to this Confederacy a balance of power 
of which they recognized the full value. They were 
able to make the northern portions of the province 
uninhabitable for white men; and had they given to 
the French their active alliance, and had they joined 
the scalping knife of the Iroquois to the cannon of 
the trained soldier in a united attack, the plans of 
Frontenac might have been carried out. The French 
Governor writing to Versailles, the English to Lon- 
don, bore the same testimony to the efficacy of the 
barrier between the rival nations which was formed 
by the Indian Confederacy. That this bulwark 
against French invasion was maintained, that good 
relations with the savages were kept up, that the fur 
trader could reach the western lakes, and that the 

19 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Dutchman could sleep securely in Albany, were 
benefits due chiefly, before 1745, to members of the 
Schuyler family. In the wars and the diplomacy of 
the frontier, that name was most frequently heard, 
and men who bore it were most conspicuous in the 
pubhc service. 

In 1650, Philip Pieterse, the founder of the family, 
emigrated from Amsterdam to Rensselaerwyck, and 
soon after married the daughter of Van Schlechten- 
horst, the patroon's agent. In 1652, occurred one 
of the periodical conflicts between the West India 
Company's soldiers at Fort Orange and the repre- 
sentatives of the patroon. A son of Van Schlechten- 
horst was dragged through the street by soldiers, 
while the company's commissary stood by, crying, 
"Let him have it now and the devil take him !" At 
this juncture young Schuyler appeared, threw himself 
lustily into the fight and rescued his brother-in-law 
in spite of the odds. His hardihood, enterprise and 
faith in the future of his adopted country made him 
a leading and prosperous man. His pursuit of the 
fur trade was carried on not only with profit, but with 
a justice and intelligence which established relations 
of peculiar confidence between his family and the 
savage tribes. His house at The Flatts, a few miles 
north of Albany, lay directly in the path of the Indians 
on their way to the town by land or river. At the 
house they found a willing hospitality, and on the 
floor of the barn their dusky forms were stretched 

20 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

almost nightly. Thus Schuyler and his sons acquired 
a familiarity with their character and a facIHty In 
dealing with them which proved of great value to 
the province. A personal feeling of friendship arose 
on the part of the Indians to which was due the fact 
that through all the disorders of the border no person 
at The Flatts, unprotected as It was, received harm 
from the savages. 

The success of Philip Pieterse's business operations 
can be judged by his investments. The great posses- 
sions of the Van Rensselaers made It necessary for 
a purchaser of land to go to a considerable distance. 
But Philip Pleterse secured two fine tracts within the 
manor; The Flatts which he bought of Richard Van 
Rensselaer when he returned to Holland, and the 
large farm on the east side of the Hudson which 
Joanna de Laet had received from Jeremiah Van 
Rensselaer In liquidation of her claims to a share of 
Rensselaerwyck. In Albany he owned a number of 
lots besides his house on North Pearl Street. He had 
a tract on the Mohawk River and another at Esopus, 
now Kingston. He even extended his Investments 
to New York. There he owned two houses on the 
corner of Exchange Place and Broadway, "one being 
a great new house, the other a small old one", and 
the lot on the corner of Rector Street and Broadway. 
These properties he gave to his son Brandt and his 
daughter Gertruyd when they married Cornelia and 
Stephanus Van Cortlandt. 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Philip Pieterse Schuyler died in 1683, and was 
buried from the old Dutch church where his arms 
were emblazoned on one of the windows. Although 
one of his daughters married the founder of the 
manor of Livingston, another that of the manor of 
Cortlandt, and his eldest son the granddaughter of 
the first patroon, neither he nor his sons seem to have 
had a similar aristocratic ambition. According to 
Dutch traditions, his property was divided equally 
among all his children, with the full consent of Peter, 
the eldest, who, under the English law, might have 
claimed all the lands. 

Among the sons and grandsons of Philip Pieterse 
were many who figure in the provincial annals and 
especially in the records of forest war and negotiation. 
The name occurs frequently and always creditably 
in the stirring narratives of Francis Parkman. The 
most distinguished was Peter, who, during the forty 
years from 1684 to 1724, constantly played a leading 
part. Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, 
Mayor of Albany and chairman of the Board of 
Indian Commissioners, he was not only a force in his 
native town, but as a member of the council in New 
York and three times acting governor, his influence 
extended over the whole province. The familiarity 
with the language and character of the Indians which 
he acquired as a boy at The Flatts was the basis of 
a power in dealing with the tribes which had no rival 
in his time and afterwards was equalled only by the 

22 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

ability of Sir William Johnson. In the provincial 
records we often see the figure of this sturdy and 
tactful Dutchman, sometimes alone, sometimes accom- 
panied by his brother-in-law, Livingston, and by Van 
Cortlandt, seated about the council fire, smoking the 
calumet and punctuating with belts of wampum the 
figurative oratory of the forest. The famous Jesuit 
Joncaire, naturahzed among the Senecas and devoting 
his life to winning over the Six Nations to the interests 
of France, could not prevail against Peter Schuyler, 
ascending the Mohawk in his birchbark canoe, follow- 
ing the trail through the wilderness and in every 
village " keeping bright the chain of friendship." 
From the savages who enjoyed the hospitality of The 
Flatts, Schuyler obtained information of the ceaseless 
intrigues of the French, and more than once was able 
to warn the frontiers of New England of approaching 
danger. A picturesque incident in his career occurred 
in 17 lo, when, partly to impress the Six Nations with 
the power of England and partly to excite English 
interest in the provincial struggles, Schuyler took four 
Mohawk chiefs to London. Received as the guests 
of the nation, fantastically attired by a theatrical cos- 
tumer, introduced as Kings to Queen Anne by the 
Earl of Shrewsbury, driven through the streets in 
royal carriages and made the subject of essays by 
Steele and Addison, they formed the sensation of the 
day. 

Peter Schuyler could fight as well as negotiate, 

23 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

could lead his savage allies on the warpath as well 
as hold their allegiance by persuasion. The annals 
of the time reveal him enduring the hardships of 
partisan warfare, crouching at night in a hole scooped 
out of the snow, before a fire which lit up the faces of 
companions where ferocity was always present and 
treachery always to be dreaded. On one of these 
occasions, when in pursuit of a Canadian raiding party 
in the depth of winter, starvation was added to ex- 
posure and the danger of hostile rifles. The hungry 
Schuyler rose from his bed of hemlock boughs and 
was searching in the snow for a breakfast of nuts, 
when he was called to a camp fire where his red allies 
sat feasting about a steaming kettle. The kind of 
men which he had both to command and to fight was 
shown when a human hand ladled out of the kettle 
betrayed to Schuyler that a Frenchman slain in the 
previous day's encounter had furnished the savage 
meal. 

In 1 69 1, when aggressive measures against Fron- 
tenac became necessary, Major Schuyler gathered 
together a force of English, Dutch, Mohawks and 
Mohegans, in all two hundred and sixty-six men. He 
followed that warpath so long familiar to the colonists 
and often afterwards to be trodden in the French 
War and the Revolution — ^up the Hudson, through 
Lakes George and Champlain and down the Richelieu 
River to the waters of the St. Lawrence. The little 
army built their canoes and fashioned their paddles 

24 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

In the woods, subsisting on the deer, elk and bear 
which their hunting parties brought into camp. Leav- 
ing his canoes hidden and guarded on the banks of 
the Richeheu, Schuyler followed the forest trails to 
La Prairie on the St. Lawrence. 

His plans were known to the French, who concerted 
measures to destroy him. While the French com- 
mander, Callieres, awaited his attack at La Prairie 
with the greatly superior force of seven hundred men, 
another body of Canadians and Indians equal to 
Schuyler's in number, under Valrenne, allowed him 
to pass by unmolested in the woods, and then, posting 
themselves on the return path to his canoes, prepared 
to cut to pieces what might remain of his retreating 
army. Between the two hostile forces, Schuyler must 
win two victories or be utterly destroyed. It was 
an hour before daylight when he reached La Prairie. 
A French sentinel perceived the shadowy forms of 
men gliding from tree to tree, shouted " Qui Vive," 
fired his musket and ran in shouting the alarm. 
CaUieres was ill and his men seem to have indulged 
in too much brandy the evening before. On one side 
of the fort were encamped the Canadians and Indians, 
on the other the French regulars. The former were 
first attacked and driven with loss into the fort. The 
regulars then rushed upon Schuyler's men, who met 
them with a volley which killed fifty and drove the 
rest to cover. Forming again, they made another 
attack, were again repulsed by a telling fire and were 

25 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

forced to take refuge with the Canadians and Indians 
in the fort. 

Having accomplished his object of inflicting loss 
and defeat upon a force which he now perceived to 
be largely superior to his own, Schuyler retreated 
slowly, cutting down the growing corn as he went, 
and entered again upon the forest trail which led to 
his canoes on the Richelieu. His men had marched 
all night, had fought their fight in the early dawn, 
and now at nine o'clock, as they picked their way 
through the bushes and trees, the forest ahead sud- 
denly resounded with war whoops. Schuyler's scouts 
had met those of Valrenne's ambushed force. Upon 
a rocky ridge which crossed the trail, the French 
officer had posted his men, lying three deep behind 
fallen trees and hidden by bushes. The charge or- 
dered by Schuyler met with such volleys of musketry 
as to betray the great strength of the enemy. Then 
Schuyler realized the extent of his danger, between 
the semi-circle of rifles which barred his advance and 
the avenging enemy which was surely following. "I 
encouraged my men," says his terse account, "and 
told them there was no other choice, fight or die they 
must, the enemy being between us and our canoes," 
The conflict which ensued was reported by Frontenac 
himself as the most hotly contested ever fought on 
the border. Charge after charge was desperately 
made and furiously repelled, until the combatants 
mingled together and fought hand to hand. Many 

26 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

Indians on both sides took to their heels, and the battle 
was fought out by the whites and the bravest of their 
savage allies. A French account says, "lis enfon- 
cerent notre ambuscade." "We broke through the 
middle of their body," reported Schuyler, "until we 
got into their rear, trampling upon their dead; then 
faced about them, and fought them until we made 
them give way; then drove them, by strength of arm, 
four hundred paces before us; and to say the truth 
we were all glad to see them retreat." And it was 
time, for the forces of La Prairie were approaching 
to avenge their discomfiture of the morning. Leaving 
the dead, the knapsacks and a flag behind them, 
Schuyler's party reached their canoes with the 
wounded, and after waiting for stragglers, of whom 
five came in, they paddled back to Albany. 

To the Six Nations, Peter Schuyler was known 
under the name of "Quider." According to the Indian 
habit of impersonating nations and collective powers, 
the name Corlear was always used to indicate the 
Dutch or English Governor in New York, and the 
authorities at Albany continued to be described, long 
after Schuyler's death, by the word Quider. The 
Individuals changed, but the treaties were still dis- 
cussed and concluded with Corlear and Quider. At 
the opening of the Revolutionary War, the com- 
mittee of the continental congress, In seeking the 
neutrality of the Six Nations, found It expedient to 
address them as, "We, the representatives of the 

27 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Congress and the descendants of Quider." Thus, at 
this distant and momentous juncture, was Peter 
Schuyler's departed spirit still present at the council 
fire in the silent service of his country. 

Johannes, a younger son of Philip Pieterse, was 
only less active in public affairs than his distinguished 
brother Peter. Indian Commissioner, Mayor of Al- 
bany, the envoy of Governor Bellomont to Frontenac 
in 1798, member of the Colonial Assembly from 1705 
to 17 13, he was also a fighter. When Winthrop's 
expedition against Canada was abandoned. Captain 
Johannes Schuyler resolved that at least one blow 
should be struck; and with a party of volunteers he 
made a successful attack upon La Prairie. After the 
fight there, he sat with his band of raiders at dinner 
in the forest, while the French alarm cannon boomed 
from fort to fort. " We thanked the governor of 
Canada," he wrote in his journal, " for his salute of 
heavy artillery during our meal." Johannes was the 
grandfather of General Schuyler and father of the 
"American Lady" whose memoirs were written by 
Mrs. Grant of Laggan. 

His eldest son, Philip, was living on the family 
lands at Saratoga, where he was occupied in clearing 
and settling the surrounding wilderness. In Novem- 
ber, 1745, the French officer Marin, leading a con- 
siderable force of Canadians and Indians, made a 
descent upon the English frontiers. They approached 
Saratoga at night, when the Inhabitants were unsus- 

28 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

piclous of danger, and sleeping. While the body Qf 
the invaders scattered to attack the different houses, 
a party under an officer named Beauvals surrounded 
Schuyler's dwelling. The subsequent occurrences are 
related In a French manuscript written by a member 
of the expedition. "We went to the house of a man 
named Philip Skulle (Schuyler), a brave man who 
would have given us much trouble If he had had with 
him a dozen men as valiant as himself. Beauvals, who 
knew and liked him, went up to the house first, told 
him his name and asked him to surrender and save 
himself. The other replied that he was a dog and 
that he would kill him, and then fired upon him. 
Beauvals repeated his request to surrender, to which 
Philip answered by firing again. At last Beauvals, 
weary of receiving his fire, shot and killed him. We 
entered Immediately, and everything was pillaged In 
an Instant. This house was of brick, pierced with 
loop holes to the ground floor. Some servants were 
made prisoners, and It was said that some people who 
had taken refuge In the cellar were burned." This 
Philip was the uncle of General Schuyler, from whom 
he inherited the Saratoga lands. 

Another military Schuyler was Peter, a nephew of 
Quider, whose father Arent had left him an extensive 
estate now comprised in the city of Newark, New 
Jersey. He was colonel of militia In 1746, and com- 
manded the regiment called the Jersey Blues In the 
French War. In 1756, while stationed at Oswego, 

29 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

the outpost on Lake Ontario, he was captured by 
Montcalm, escaped the Indian massacre which oc- 
curred there, and was sent a prisoner to Quebec. 
There he distinguished himself by his generosity and 
kindness to his fellow captives, among whom was 
Israel Putnam, who had escaped as by a miracle from 
the slow fire which his savage captors had kindled 
around him. Peter served under General Amherst 
and was present at the events ending in the conquest 
of Canada. 

Although some of the Schuylers established them- 
selves elsewhere, like Arent in New Jersey and Brandt 
in New York City, the family continued to be identi- 
fied with Albany. There were six mayors of the 
name before 1750. The original Dutch house of old 
Quider remained on the corner of State and North 
Pearl Streets until recent years. The homestead 
called The Flatts which Philip Pieterse had bought 
from the Van Rensselaers has never ceased to be 
inhabited by descendants of his. The name was 
derived from the fertile stretch of level meadow land 
which extends north of Albany along the west bank 
of the Hudson. The original house Avas burned 
more than a hundred years ago, but portions of the 
brick walls were left standing, and being rebuilt on 
the same lines, the house still appears very much 
as it was. The frame of the barn is the same as when 
the Iroquois made it their favorite lodging. The 
grounds about the house were the rendezvous of the 

30 



THE SCHUYLER FAMILY 

military parties which the Schuylers led against Can- 
ada. By the door marched the armies in the French 
War and the Revolution. There were entertained 
Howe, Abercrombie and Amherst, besides number- 
less other officers. There was passed the interesting 
and hospitable life of Aunt Schuyler, so pleasingly 
portrayed in the Memoirs of an American Lady. 

A few rods to the north of the house is the old 
family burying ground. As the visitor enters it, he 
finds himself in a dense wood. Unused for many 
years, nature has been allowed to resume her sway. 
Forest trees have grown to maturity; their spreading 
roots have overthrown headstones and unsettled the 
foundations of monuments. A thick undergrowth 
hides the moss-covered slabs beneath which sleep 
Quider and his hardy kinsmen. As the visitor parts 
the branches to read the names of the dead, he finds 
here a colonel and there a captain. In the forest 
their battles were fought, and now in a forest they 
lie, close by the banks of their beloved river. 



31 



Chapter II. 

Youth of Philip Schuyler. — The French and Indian 

War, 

PHILIP SCHUYLER had only Dutch blood 
in his veins. Fourth in descent from Philip 
Pleterse, he was grandson of Captain Jo- 
hannes and son of Johannes, Jr., Indian Commis- 
sioner and Mayor of Albany. Born November i ith, 
1733, he lost his father when eight years of age and 
was brought up by his mother, Cornelia Van Cort- 
landt, partly at her house in Albany and partly at The 
Flatts, where Aunt Schuyler's model household was 
a second home to him. The surroundings of his 
boyhood were such as to develop the practical and 
hardy qualities necessary for success at a time when 
there was no specialization of activity, when a leading 
man had to be an adept not only in one but in various 
employments. Shooting and fishing were the natural 
amusements of the boy; to handle a horse or a canoe, 
to sail a sloop, to tread alone without fear the forest 
paths, became matters of course. Of moral training 
he had the best kind In the example of the simple 
and high minded lives which were lived about him 
In the family circle at The Flatts; and the religious 

32 



YOUTH OF PHILIP SCHUYLER 

impressions then made upon his youthful character 
were strong enough to endure as guides of conduct 
throughout a long life. 

Of the education to be derived from books, young 
Schuyler received a share unusual at that time, and 
equalled only by the advantages of the few graduates 
of Yale College in the province. A Huguenot tutor 
taught him until he was fifteen years old, when he 
was sent to New Rochelle, the home of the Huguenot 
refugees, and placed in charge of the Rev. Mr. 
Stouppe, the pastor of the French Protestant church. 
There he remained for three years in close application 
to study and learned to speak French, then an unusual 
accomplishment for a provincial. At New Rochelle, 
as previously at Albany, mathematics was young 
Schuyler's favorite subject, and the circumstance ac- 
cords with the methodical, orderly and accurate habit 
of mind which afterwards characterized him. Among 
his papers are a large number of mathematical cal- 
culations, generally made for a practical end, to deter- 
mine the height of canal locks or the sinking fund 
of the public debt, but often puzzling problems 
worked out for amusement only. This intellectual 
bent, pursued as it was with pleasure, lies close to 
the foundation of Schuyler's usefulness. The prob- 
lems which life was to present to him, in his private 
business, in his labors as soldier and statesman, were 
often novel, to be solved by independent thought, un- 
aided by previous education or experience. 

33 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

John Jay as a boy was also one of Mr. Stouppe's 
scholars, and lived at his house some years after 
Schuyler. From him we learn that the diet provided 
by Mrs. Stouppe was meagre even for those simple 
days; and the future Chief Justice had sometimes to 
go hungry to bed in a room so ill protected from the 
winds of winter that he awoke to find the snow drifted 
upon the floor. Schuyler's experience was doubtless 
the same. It was while studying at New Rochelle 
that there first developed what was destined to be the 
chief drawback and Impediment in his life, the 
liability to attacks of rheumatic gout. This painful 
disease confined him to the house for a whole year 
while he was yet a growing youth; he never ceased 
to be subject to the infliction; and at important junc- 
tures, when he needed all his strength of body and 
mind, he had the mortification and sorrow of being 
totally incapacitated. 

After his studies at New Rochelle were concluded, 
Schuyler returned to Albany and there pursued a 
branch of education very different, but quite as 
important for him as the courses of Mr. Stouppe. 
The property which he inherited and upon which 
must be based his future fortune, consisted chiefly of 
lands, only a portion of which was redeemed from 
the forest. He had to familiarize himself with these 
lands, find tenants to clear and plant them, mark out 
the best sites for saw-mills, superintend their erection, 
and arrange for the marketing of the lumber. His 

34 



YOUTH OF PHILIP SCHUYLER 

business Interests required visits to Oswego, the dis- 
tant outpost on Lake Ontario, where the Dutch trader 
and the Indian hunter met to exchange peltry for 
guns, hatchets and whiskey. He had to know that 
watery highway, so often to be followed in peace and 
in war — up to Mohawk River, past the fortress- 
dwelling of William Johnson, through the country 
of the Iroquois, over the Great Carrying Place to 
Oneida Lake and down the Oneida River to the fort. 
Rough settlers and lawless traders were necessary 
associates among whom safety required the cultivation 
of firmness and tact. It was part of Schuyler's life 
to become familiar with the Indians, to learn their 
ways, how to influence and control them. The war- 
like confederacy of the Six Nations was still estab- 
hshed in the Long House as in the days of Peter 
Schuyler, and had still to be cajoled or overawed. 
The strong hand of Montcalm held the destinies of 
Canada and threatened those of the English colonies. 
The blackened ruins of the house at Saratoga, where 
lay the ashes of his murdered Uncle Philip, spoke 
strongly enough to the youthful Schuyler of dangers 
to be faced. 

This free and varied life of the frontier, in which 
civilized man was brought so close to nature in its 
wilder forms, was full of pleasures of its own and of 
stimulating contrasts. After the westward journeys 
through forest trails or In birch bark canoe amidst a 
wilderness whose human inhabitants were little less 

35 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

wild than the bear and the elk, the home life at 
Albany, with its solid comforts. Its simple but lively 
social pleasures, acquired a peculiar zest. The 
winter's day passed on snowshoes or skates found a 
happy end with book or games before the roaring 
logs of a Dutch fire-place. The visits to each other of 
the Hudson River families, in winter on sledges 
skimming over the frozen surface, in summer by the 
leisurely sloop, tacking lazily between the wooded 
shores, yielded the more enjoyment that they were 
not of everyday occurrence. Many and gay were 
the house parties and river frolics among Livingstons, 
Van Rensselaers, Van Brughs, de Peysters, Ten 
Broecks, Ten Eycks, Bleeckers, Beeckmans, Lansings, 
Van Cortlandts and Cuylers. And the sledge or the 
sloop of young Philip Schuyler often took him down 
the river to Claverack, where Catherine, the daughter 
of John Van Rensselaer, was the magnet of greatest 
attraction. 

Before he had attained his majority, Schuyler paid 
several visits to New York, mingled with society there 
and formed Intimacies with young men who were to 
be his allies or adversaries in the exciting scenes of 
future years. As a relative of the principal pro- 
prietary families of the province, and as a young 
stranger who was committed to none of the political 
or religious parties of the city, all doors stood open to 
him. Both Livingstons and de Lanceys were friendly; 
he could be Intimate at the same time with Rev. Henry 

36 



YOUTH OF PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Barclay, rector of Trinity Church, and the arch-dis- 
senter, John Morin Scott. In the houses of Bayards, 
Van Cortlandts, Beeckmans, Watts, de Peysters, he 
met a circle of the chief families of the town all more 
or less connected with his own. 

New York was a royal province, differing radically 
in political and social ideas from the independent and 
democratic New England. In these years preceding 
the French and Indian War, English prejudices in 
favor of aristocratic forms and a state church were 
very strong. The Governor's council, th^e officials, the 
officers and the little court of provincial magnates who 
gathered at Government House gave the tone to a 
loyal and submissive community. But there was a 
party of opposition, republican in sentiment and op- 
posed to episcopacy. In this party the leaders were yet 
chiefly Presbyterians, because the causes of division 
were mainly religious. The clergy and laity of other 
denominations were forced to contribute to the salary 
of the rector of Trinity Church. The Archbishop of 
Canterbury was known to have a plan on foot, ap- 
proved by the ministry, for increasing the power of 
episcopacy in the province. Many men, distinctly 
aristocratic in their feelings, were driven by a dread 
of Church predominance and tyranny into an opposi- 
tion which became inevitably the party of democracy. 

In 1752, was formed the Whig Club, which met 
once a week at the King's Arms. Chief among the 
members were William Livingston, William Smith, 

37 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Jr., John Morin Scott, Peter Van Brugh Livingston, 
Robert R. Livingston, David Van Home, William 
Alexander, William Peartree Smith and Dr. John 
Jones. These men discussed politics and government 
In a manner quite independent and radical, and scan- 
dalized loyal churchmen by drinking the health of 
Oliver Cromwell, John Hampden and Hugh Peters. 
Three members of the Whig Club took the lead: 
William Liv|_ngston, William Smith, Jr., and John 
Morin Scott, the "wicked triumvirate," to whom the 
loyalist Judge Jones ascribed the later troubles of 
the province. They were all graduates of Yale Col- 
lege, an institution remarkable for " Its republican 
principles. Its Intolerance In religion and Its utter 
aversion to Bishops and all earthly Kings." Of these 
men, William Livingston was destined to become the 
distinguished revolutionary patriot and governor of 
New Jersey; John Morin Scott, the leader of the 
"Liberty Boys" and a powerful factor In the resistance 
of New York to ministerial tyranny; William Smith, 
Jr., the amiable and witty companion, the cultivated 
author of the History of New York, was to go far 
with the friends of his youth, but to become at last 
a loyalist and an exile and end his days as Chief 
Justice of Canada. These three young lawyers car- 
ried the war Into Africa and earned the undying 
hatred of all churchmen by prosecuting at their own 
expense the great suit of the heirs of Anneke Jans 
against Trinity Church. With Livingston and Smith, 

38 



YOUTH OF PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Philip Schuyler formed a friendship destined to be 
intimate. 

The establishment of King's, now Columbia Col- 
lege, was then proposed, and the vestry of Trinity 
Church offered the land for a building on condition 
that the head of the college should always be a mem- 
ber of the Church of England and that the Episcopal 
ritual should always be used. This proposition at 
once became the subject of heated controversy and 
political division. William Livingston had lately 
founded a weekly publication called the Independent 
Reflector, in which the social and political interests 
of the province were discussed chiefly by himself. In 
the columns of this paper he continued a series of 
articles attacking the establishment of the college on 
the terms proposed, taking the ground that the money 
for Its support was to be raised by a general tax, while 
the Episcopalians were only a minority in the province. 
He was replied to in Gaine's Mercury by the church- 
men, Barclay, Johnson and Auchmuty. Regarding 
this controversy, Schuyler wrote to a friend in Al- 
bany: — "I send you the forty-sixth number of the 
Independent Reflector, which is making a notable stir 
here. The clergy and all churchmen are in arms 
against it, and our friend. Will Livingston, who is the 
principal writer, is thought by some to be one of the 
most promising men in the province. I esteem the 
Church and its liturgy, but I believe he is right in 
opposing the ridiculous pretensions of the clergy, who 

39 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

would make It as infallible as the Popish church 
claims to be." 

During one of Schuyler's visits to New York, the 
first theatrical company arrived in the town. It was 
warmly welcomed by the Government House circle, 
but a number of the more staid gentlemen met and 
agreed not to countenance the theatre by their pres- 
ence. Apparently they had not consulted their wives 
and daughters, who were otherwise minded, and one 
by one they fell away from grace and were seen at 
the theatre, except William Livingston, who was not 
the man to yield a question of principle. Young 
Schuyler had no scruples in the matter. In September, 
1753, he wrote to his friend " Brom," Abram Ten 
Broeck of Albany, afterwards an important per- 
sonage, one of those familiar and Illustrative letters 
of which we wish we had more : — 

"The schooner arrived at Ten Eyck's wharf on 
Wednesday at one o'clock, and the same evening I 
went to the play with Phil (Livingston). You know 
I told you before I left home that if the players should 
be here I should see them, for a player is a new thing 
under the sun in our good province. Phil's sweetheart 
went with us. She is a handsome brunette from Bar- 
badoes, has an eye like that of a Mohawk beauty 
and appears to possess a good understanding. Phil 
and I went to see the grand battery In the afternoon, 
and to pay my respects to the governor, whose lady 
spent a week with us last spring, and we bought our 

.40 



YOUTH OF PHILIP SCHUYLER 

play tickets for eight shillings apiece, at Parker and 
Weyman's printing office in Beaver Street on our re- 
turn. We had tea at five o'clock, and before sundown 
we were in the theatre, for the players commenced at 
six. The room was quite full already. Among the 
company was your cousin Tom and Kitty Livingston, 
and also Jack Watts, Sir Peter Warren's brother-in- 
law. I would like to tell you all about the play, but 
I can't now, for Billy must take this to the wharf for 
Captain Wynkoop in half an hour. He sails this 
afternoon. A large green curtain hung before the 
players until they were ready to begin, when, on the 
blast of a whistle, it was raised, and some of them 
appeared and commenced acting. The play was called 
The Conscious Lovers^ written you know by Sir 
Richard Steele, Addison's help in writing the Spec- 
tator. Hallam, and his wife and sister all performed, 
and a sprightly young man named Hulett played the 
violin and danced merrily. But I said I could not tell 
you about the play, so I will forbear, only adding that 
I was not better pleased than I should have been at 
the club, where last year I went with cousin Stephen, 
and heard many wise sayings which I hope profited me 
something. Tomorrow I expect to go Into New Jer- 
sey to visit Colonel Schuyler, who was at our house 
four or five years ago, when he returned from Os- 
wego. He is a kinsman and good soldier, and as I 
believe we shall have war again with the French quite 
as soon as we could wish, I expect he will lead his 

41 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Jerseymen to the field. I wish you and I, Brom, 
could go with him. But I must say farewell, with 
love to Peggy and sweet Kitty V. R. if you see her." 

In the autumn of 1754, Schuyler came of age. The 
English law of primogeniture gave to him, as eldest 
son, all the real estate which had belonged to his 
father, which meant substantially the whole family 
property. The justice of this law was no more ques- 
tioned in the province of New York than in England, 
nor had its privileges been refused by the eldest son 
in the circle of land-holding families with which he 
was connected. But Dutch tradition and the gen- 
erosity of Schuyler's character caused him to disregard 
the law. The estate was divided by him equally 
among his mother's children, and the considerable 
fortune which he afterwards possessed was due to his 
own enterprise and industry. 

It was in this year that the first shots were fired in 
the forests of Virginia by command of Colonel 
George Washington in that bloody and decisive 
struggle which in Europe was called the Seven Years' 
War and in America the French and Indian War. 

The importance of this great conflict is somewhat 
obscured by the grandeur of those other events, the 
American and the French revolutions, which soon 
followed and were in considerable measure its se- 
quence. But it largely determined the future of the 
world. Its results in Europe were to make England 
supreme on the seas, commercially and in war, to 

42 



. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

make her the great colonial nation of the world, to 
give her control in America and in India. Its results 
in America were to abolish the French power, and 
thus to make possible the United States, both as to 
extent of territory and as to political independence. 
All the region between the Alleghany and the Rocky 
Mountains, from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Law- 
rence River, was claimed by France by right of ex- 
ploration and occupation; the natural highways of 
that vast domain, the rivers Ohio, Mississippi, St. 
Lawrence and the great lakes, were jealously guarded 
by forts, under the command of officers from Ver- 
sailles, above which, in the endless expanse of leafy 
wilderness, floated the fleur-de-lis of the old mon- 
archy, — a flag which represented everything opposed 
to human progress. The prize grasped by the wisdom 
of Pitt and the valor of Wolfe became the inheritance 
of the men who were to build up the American nation. 
The perspective of time allows us to see the ulti- 
mate meaning of this great conflict, to view It as a 
necessary step in the world's advance from the ab- 
solutism of the past to the enlightenment of the 
present. But even to the more limited contemporary 
view the advantages to accrue to the English colonists 
were visible enough. Philip Schuyler could see that 
with Canada under British rule, he might rebuild the 
house at Saratoga without fear of midnight raids and 
conflagration; the tomahawk of the savage might be 
burled deep when a Frontenac or a Montcalm ceased 

43 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

to incite to the warpath; every year might be pushed 
further to the westward the tide of colonization and 
enterprise. 

The youthful Schuyler played no such important 
part in the war as to make it appropriate to follow 
the course of military operations in any detail. But 
in this school he, like Washington, Putnam, Stark 
and many others afterwards distinguished in the 
Revolution, obtained such military experience as they 
had, and displayed the qualities which, in the later 
struggle, induced their fellow citizens to confide to 
their courage and abilities the safety of their country. 
Early in 1755, Schuyler had raised a company in the 
neighborhood of Albany and had received his com- 
mission as captain from Governor James de Lancey. 
Twt) of the young captain's friends, Henry Van 
Schaack and Philip Lansing, enlisted as lieutenants 
in his company. In that year two great expeditions 
took place against New France. In the south, the 
English general, Braddock, despising provincial ad- 
vice, clinging obstinately to European methods of 
warfare, led his regular troops into the Indian ambus- 
cade before Fort Duquesne. After that awful slaugh- 
ter in the forests of the western wilderness, while his 
own life was ebbing away, he realized that Colonel 
Washington of Virginia knew something about fight- 
ing French and Indians, In the north, this crushing 
defeat was redeemed by a victory won by provincials, 
fighting in provincial style. 

44 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

The object of the northern expedition was Crown 
Point, a fort on a peninsula projecting into Lake 
Champlain, which commanded the passage of the lake 
and for many years had threatened the English 
colonies. The commander chosen was William John- 
son, an Irishman, nephew of Sir Peter Warren, who 
acquired extensive lands on the Mohawk River 
through his marriage with Miss Watts of New York, 
and had sent out this nephew to manage them. About 
nine years before this time Johnson was living ob- 
scurely among the Indians on the Mohawk, when an 
event occurred which opened a path to his ambition 
which he trod thenceforward to wealth and distinc- 
tion. Governor Clinton of New York and James de 
Lancey, the Chief Justice of the province, were Inti- 
mate friends and together controlled public affairs at 
their will. One night at Government House, when the 
two friends had been drinking together, a violent 
quarrel arose between them, and de Lancey left with 
revengeful threats which he did not fail to execute. 
The ensuing enmity between the Governor and the 
Chief Justice became a source of great divisions In the 
province. Clinton had his official power, and de 
Lancey his Influence with the Assembly to use In the 
conflict. Each dealt severe blows at the Interests and 
the friends of his opponent. Peter Schuyler, Philip's 
cousin, was then the Indian Commissioner for the 
Six Nations, an office almost hereditary In that family. 
But he was known as de Lancey's friend. Clinton put 

45 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

in his place William Johnson, who was to show him- 
self wonderfully adapted for it. 

Johnson lived a wild and adventurous life in his 
fortified house on the Mohawk, wielding undisputed 
sway over his white tenantry and exerting the power 
of a sachem among the Six Nations. His house was 
always thronged with Indians whose sleeping forms 
encumbered the lower rooms and hall-ways at night. 
Fort Johnson, as it was called, was the chief stopping 
place on the route between the Hudson River and 
the fort on Lake Ontario. The fur trader and the 
land prospector received its hospitalities and protec- 
tion as they Ckme and went. Philip Schuyler knew it 
and its owner well. Over this semi-civilized house- 
hold presided for a time a Dutch wife who had two 
daughters. When she died her place was taken by a 
succession of squaws, among whom was a sister of 
the celebrated Brant. The two daughters were kept 
on an upper floor, isolated as much as possible from 
the wild life about them, under the charge of a gov- 
erness, who formed their only society. They both 
grew up and married. Johnson himself was power- 
fully built, with a good intelligence, rough but jovial, 
accustomed to adapt himself to any surroundings, 
painting and dressing like a savage when it suited his 
purpose, disputing with the Indian orators the palm of 
prolixity and imagery, yet keeping up his relations 
with civilization and always on good terms with Gov- 
ernment House. He had no knowledge of military 

46 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

affairs, but he brought to his work his forest experi- 
ence. He was the very opposite of Braddock and met 
with an opposite fortune. 

The rendezvous of the forces Intended to attack 
Crown Point was at The Flatts, above Albany, near 
the Schuyler house. They numbered in all about three 
thousand, the New England men under General Ly- 
man, the New York regiment under Johnson, while 
the wise old chief Hendrick commanded the Tndians. 
Among the New Englanders was Colonel Ephraim 
Williams, whose will, then made at The Flatts, found- 
ed Williams College, Lieutenant John Stark and 
Israel Putnam, beginning brilliant careers. Johnson 
was very slow about starting. The New England 
men, then, as afterwards In the Revolution, were 
ready to leave their homes to fight; but to remain 
inactive In camp under military discipline was Intoler- 
able to them. To hold together his independent sol- 
diers, Lyman started out In advance, and through the 
hot July days slowly made his way northward to a 
point on the upper Hudson where began the long 
"carry" through the woods to Lake George. There 
he began the construction of a fort, called Fort Ly- 
man, but afterwards known as Fort Edward. 

In August, Johnson moved at last, with his New 
York companies and his Indians, stopping In the 
woods in the heat of the day, and In his jovial manner 
gathering his officers around a punch bowl. Arrived 
at Fort Lyman, he left five hundred men there to 

47 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

finish and garrison the fort, and then with the rest 
of the troops he moved northward over the "great 
carrying place," a band of men with axes going ahead 
to clear a rough road through the forest. At length 
the little army arrived at the southern extremity of 
the beautiful lake, of which the quiet solitude was 
soon to be rudely broken. "I found," said Johnson, 
"a mere wilderness; never was house or fort erected 
here before." The waters which the French called 
Lac St. Sacrement, Johnson named Lake George, 
"not in simple honor of his Majesty, but to assert his 
undoubted dominion here." The army then went into 
camp, a motley and ill-disciplined assemblage, the 
New England ministers exhorting against "cursing 
and swearing," and preaching their sermons to sol- 
diers and savages. 

Meanwhile the French had no idea of waiting to 
be attacked. Baron Dieskau, with three thousand 
regulars, Canadians and Indians, had moved south- 
ward to Crown Point. He was not only a trained 
soldier, but far surpassed Johnson In energy and judg- 
ment. Finding no indications of an enemy at Crown 
Point, he continued southward to TIconderoga. There 
his scouts brought In a prisoner who gave him In- 
formation of Fort Lyman. The bold Dieskau pushed 
on, making a circuit to the east of Lake George by 
way of the South Bay, and at length found himself 
on the rough forest road which connected Fort Lyman 
with Johnson's Camp. He had hardly arrived there 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

when a man came galloping down the road. DIeskau's 
Indians shot and scalped him. Upon him was found 
a letter from Johnson to the officer in command of 
Fort Lyman, warning him of Dieskau's approach. 
Johnson's scouts to the eastward had come in report- 
ing the woods to be swarming with French and In- 
dians heading toward Fort Lyman, and Johnson had 
sent off the ill-fated messenger. This was the first that 
Dieskau knew of Johnson's Camp. Soon afterwards 
some mutinous waggoners who had deserted from the 
camp came down the road. Two were shot, two were 
made prisoners and gave Dieskau full information of 
the forces at Fort Lyman and the camp at Lake 
George. Others escaped and hastening backward, 
told Johnson of Dieskau's position. Each commander 
now understood the position of his enemy. 

Dieskau was anxious to continue southward and 
take Fort Lyman first. But his savage allies had a 
great dread of cannon which they supposed would be 
in action at the fort. They refused to follow the 
French there, but consented to attack the camp at 
Lake George, although it contained the main body 
of the enemy. Early the next morning Dieskau set 
out along the road to the north and had got within 
three miles of Johnson's Camp when his scouts 
brought in a prisoner who gave the information that 
an attacking force had left the camp. The news was 
true. Johnson had sent out a thousand men under 
Colonel Williams and Chief Hendrick. Dieskau 

49 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

immediately disposed his Canadians and Indians on 
both sides of the road in ambush. Into the fatal am- 
buscade Williams and Hendrick marched at the head 
of their column and fell at the first fire. A panic 
seized the English force taken by surprise and a re- 
treat to the camp began. But the vanguard, now 
become the rear, fought so obstinately from behind 
the trees, that the retreat soon became orderly and 
Dieskau's force was by no means in a triumphant 
mood as it advanced. This engagement was long 
talked of at Dutch and New England firesides as "the 
bloody morning scout." 

In the camp, the sound of musketry was distinctly 
heard. It grew louder and louder, and then the Eng- 
lish knew that their comrades were retreating. At the 
eleventh hour, when almost too late, Johnson at- 
tempted to fortify his position. Trees were hastily 
felled and a rough obstruction raised. The ambushed 
column began to arrive, first frightened stragglers, 
then men carrying the wounded, then the main body 
in good order, firing to the last. Every man was 
placed in position. Some cannon were dragged up a 
bank in the rear of the camp and breastworks hastily 
thrown up about them. Dieskau's white-coated regu- 
lars soon appeared in serried rank, their bayonets 
flashing among the trees. The Canadians and Indians 
approached on either flank uttering frightful yells. 
It was the critical moment. The provincial troops 
within the camp had never been under fire before. 

50 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

Many were seen to shrink. But the officers with 
drawn swords threatened and exhorted. The enemy 
was in front, the lake behind. 

The gallant French commander had hastened on 
in front, planning to enter the camp on the heels of 
the retreating column. Could he have done this, his 
success was assured. But the Canadians and Indians, 
at sight of the cannon, scattered widely among the 
trees, beyond the reach of orders. The French regu- 
lars received the full fire of cannon and musketry as 
they stood exposed and they too sought the shelter of 
the trees. Then for five hours raged the forest con- 
flict, five thousand muskets discharged as fast as they 
could be loaded, the cannon booming and the balls 
crashing among the branches. Dieskau had had a 
poor opinion of the English provincials, and when he 
heard their numbers, said there were only so many 
more to kill. But after this battle his opinion changed. 
"They fought in the morning like good boys, at noon 
like men and in the afternoon like devils." Johnson 
retired early to his tent with a shot through his hip. 
Lyman conducted the defence with the greatest in- 
trepidity, and its success was mainly owing to him. 
The French officer, St. Pierre, in command of the 
Indians, the same to whom Washington had carried 
Governor Dinwiddie's letter in the western forest, 
was killed. Dieskau, shot through the leg, sat on a log 
for hours giving his orders. The French fire slack- 
ened at last, and the English leaping over the breast- 

51 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

work of logs, dashed upon their enemy hatchet in 
hand. Too exhausted to resist, the French fled 
through the woods and the day was won. 

The unfortunate Dieskau, as he sat wounded on a 
fallen tree, attended only by his aide-de-camj), Bernier, 
was shot twice again in this final onslaught. Carried 
into the camp, he was received into Johnson's tent, 
where his generous captor spared no effort to relieve 
his sufferings. The two commanders lay side by side, 
receiving the same medical attention, such as it was, 
and discussing in a friendly manner the past events. 
Schuyler's knowledge of the French language was 
now useful. He was assiduous in his attention to 
Dieskau and Bernier and became intimate with both. 
Johnson's Indians, when they returned from the 
woods with the scalps of the dead, were incensed that 
the prisoners were not delivered over to their venge- 
ance. Dieskau, especially, was the object of their 
bloodthirsty anger, and they demanded his life in re- 
turn for that of their fallen chiefs. Johnson was firm 
in defence of his prisoner and took every precaution 
to protect him. "What do they want of me?" asked 
Dieskau, observing the threatening concourse of sav- 
ages around the tent. "They want to kill and eat 
you, and put you in their pipes and smoke you," an- 
swered Johnson, "but they shall not while I live." It 
became imperative to send the prisoners away, and 
Captain Schuyler was ordered to convey them to 

52 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

Albany. Johnson lent Dieskau fifty pounds on his 
departure. 

The wounded man was borne on a litter over the 
rough "carry" to the Hudson, and there Schuyler had 
him placed in a batteau. With the other prisoners, 
Schuyler hastened in advance and when Dieskau ar- 
rived, comfortable quarters were ready for him and 
Bernler, who was also wounded. The battle and its 
result were known in Albany, and the rejoicing was 
naturally great. Had Johnson's camp been defended 
with less valor, had the chances of war been less favor- 
able to him, Dieskau, with his white-coated French- 
men, his rough Canadians and his painted savages, 
would have entered the town as a conqueror instead 
of a shattered prisoner. The imagination of the in- 
habitants did not need to be vivid to portray to them 
the inevitable consequences. Hence, the young 
Schuyler, fresh from the bloody field where he had 
performed his part, met with a cordial reception. 

Nine days after the fight, on the 17th of September, 
he was married to the "sweet Kitty V. R.," mentioned 
in the letter to "Brom," the daughter of John Van 
Rensselaer of Claverack, and Hke himself a descendant 
of Philip Pleterse Schuyler. For a week after the 
wedding he remained in Albany, his attention divided 
between his bride and his French friends. 

How much the wounded officers owed to him, and 
after his departure, to the kindness of his wife and 
mother, is shown by the following letter written to 

53 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

him in French by Bernier, October the 5th: — "I have 
received, sir, and dear friend, the letter which you 
have done me the honor to write to me from your 
camp. It is full of politeness and sentiment. As to 
the portion intended particularly for me, I am truly 
sensible; and I should esteem myself infinitely happy 
to be able to give you some marks of my gratitude, 
and of the esteem and friendship which are due to 
you. I have read the letter to the Baron Dieslcau. It 
has confirmed him in the good opinion of you, which, 
you know, he has reason to entertain. He is still as 
when you left him — still suffering, and uncertain how 
his wounds will end at last. He charges me to pray 
you, in his behalf, to present his compliments to M. de 
Johnson, and to assure him of the extent of his grati- 
tude to him. His greatest desire is to be able to write 
to him himself. I pray you add to the Baron's wishes 
my very humble respects. One can add nothing to 
the politeness of Madame, your mother, and Madame, 
your wife. Every day there come from them to the 
Baron, fruits and other rare sweets which are of 
great service to him. He orders me, on this subject, 
to express to you all that he owes to the attentions of 
these ladies. If it was permitted me to go out, I 
should already have been often to present to them his 
respects and mine. The Baron has been much pleased 
to learn by your letter that General de Johnson es- 
teems you and gives you marks of his consideration 
and kindness. If he shall have the happiness to be 

54 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

restored to health, and to see your general again, he 
will himself be the proclaimer of all the good words 
which should be said of you, and which in justice he 
owes you, for the trouble and care you have had for 
him." 

Johnson showed his incapacity as a general by not 
following up his advantage and taking Crown Point 
when he could. Lyman would gladly have led his 
New England men to a second and decisive victory, 
but that Johnson's jealousy would not permit, and 
Crown Point remained as hitherto a constant menace. 
But the victory won at the camp at Lake George was 
the solitary success in a year of disaster. The King of 
England marked his appreciation by a gift to Johnson 
of five thousand pounds and by creating him a baronet. 
Hereafter he is known as Sir William Johnson of 
Johnson Hall. Schuyler remained in camp until it 
broke up late in the autumn, and during the winter, 
although able to be much in Albany with his family, 
he was employed in making Fort Edward a depot of 
military stores. 

There was stationed in Albany that winter an Eng- 
lish officer named Colonel John Bradstreet, who had 
already rendered good services to his government and 
was destined to be much employed in the future course 
of the war. Although Bradstreet was much the senior 
of Schuyler, the two men formed an intimate friend- 
ship which had important results for both. In the 
spring of 1756, Bradstreet was sent at the head of an 

SS 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

expedition to Oswego on Lake Ontario, with the 
double purpose of keeping open the communications 
with that western post and of supplying it with mili- 
tary stores. Schuyler received orders to accompany 
him. 

The expedition, which consisted of about two thou- 
sand boatmen and provincial soldiers, followed in 
safety the western route of river and lake and forest 
"carry" already familiar to Schuyler. The stores 
were deposited at the Oswego fort, where Peter 
Schuyler was in command with his "Jersey Blues," 
and where he was soon to be attacked and captured 
by Montcalm. In the beginning of July, Bradstreet's 
force started on its homeward journey. The long line 
of canoes was paddled slowly against the current of 
the Oswego River, between the shores of virgin forest. 
The van, consisting of about three hundred men, with 
Bradstreet and Schuyler at their head, had proceeded 
about nine miles, the silence of nature hardly broken 
by the sound of voice or paddle, when suddenly from 
the forest on the east bank came the rattle of musketry 
and a shower of bullets. The volley had been fired 
by a force of about seven hundred men under Coulon 
de Vllliers, whom Governor Vaudreuil had sent to 
close the communications between Oswego and 
Albany. 

In the canoes, many men had been struck. The 
rest, knowing themselves to be a shining mark for an 
enemy they could not see, paddled hastily for the west 

56 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

bank and sought shelter among the trees. Elated by 
their success, the French started to cross the river by 
means of an island a little further up stream, with 
the intention of attacking the English before they 
could recover themselves. Bradstreet saw the move- 
ment and acted instantly. He, with Schuyler and six 
boatmen, paddled quickly to the island, reached it be- 
fore the French, jumped from their canoes, posted 
themselves behind trees and fired at the Frenchmen 
in the water as fast as they could load. For a few 
moments, but all important moments, they held the 
French in check. Then they were joined by twenty 
more boatmen. Three times the French attempted to 
cross, but they were no sooner in the river and ex- 
posed to fire than a well aimed volley drove them back 
to cover. Repelled at this point, Coulon de Villiers 
led his men up the east bank, with the intention of 
crossing by an upper ford. Meanwhile the English 
had recovered themselves and reinforcements had ar- 
rived. Bradstreet took two hundred and fifty men 
and marched up the west bank. But the French had 
crossed before he arrived and for some time an inde- 
cisive exchange of shots took place from behind trees. 
At last Bradstreet passed along an order for a charge. 
His men made a rush, drove the French across the 
river and shot many as they passed. Another party of 
French who had crossed further up and now sought 
to join their comrades were in turn attacked and 

57 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

driven off. Thus the day, which had opened so in- 
auspiclously for Bradstreet's command, was, by cool- 
ness and vigor, victoriously ended. The expedition 
continued its journey to Albany with some prisoners 
and a goodly collection of French muskets and knap- 
sacks. Bradstreet's action in this engagement after- 
wards received the praise of Wolfe. 

Schuyler's humanity and generosity are illustrated 
by an occurrence which took place on the day of this 
fight. When Bradstreet and his little company on 
the island had repelled the French and saw them mov- 
ing up the river, they entered their canoes to join the 
force on the west bank. A Canadian had fallen just 
as he reached the shore of the island and as his 
enemies were departing begged them not to leave him 
there to a lingering death. The canoes were already 
full and his request was refused. But Schuyler jumped 
ashore, took the man on his back, waded across the 
stream and placed the wounded Canadian in the care 
of Dr. Kirkland, the army surgeon. In 1775, when 
Schuyler, in command of the northern department, 
was in camp at Isle aux Noix in Canada, this man 
enlisted in the continental army and appeared at the 
general's tent to thank him. 

In the Spring of 1758, Albany was the scene of 
unprecedented military preparations. The inhabitants 
of the quiet frontier town were almost lost in the 
crowd of soldiers and boatmen who were camped in 
its neighborhood and who thronged its streets with 

58 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

little regard to discipline. The great and ill-fated ex- 
pedition against Ticonderoga was on foot, bringing 
together such a military assemblage as had never been 
seen in the province. For months there was a camp 
about Mrs. Schuyler's house at The Flatts, and there 
sat at her hospitable board many officers whose names 
were to be familiar in American history. There was 
Abercrombie, the incompetent general in command, 
who stupidly sacrificed his brave men before the 
breastworks of Ticonderoga. There was the gallant 
Lord Howe, elder brother of the Richard and Wil- 
liam Howe afterwards sent to subdue the colonies, 
now the second in command, but the soul of the army; 
whose death, as he led the van through the forest, 
involved the defeat and ruin of all. There was Gen- 
eral Gage, later to command the British troops 
against rebellious Boston; and Charles Lee, later to 
play so contemptible a part in the continental army. 
Among the provincials were Stark of New Hamp- 
shire, then a captain, and Putnam of Connecticut, then 
a major. 

At this interesting and exciting time, Philip 
Schuyler was living at The Flatts with his aunt. He 
was now deputy commissary with the rank of major. 
Constant association with the British officers was 
teaching him much of the principles of regular war- 
fare, of the discipline necessary to control large bodies 
of men, and of the measures to be taken to keep an 
army in supplies. It was for the latter service that he 

59 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

was especially employed, his knowledge of the coun- 
try and its resources and his business ability being 
found valuable. The contempt felt or affected by the 
British officers for the provincials alienated many 
who might have been useful. It was only the more 
determined among the Americans who would endure 
the slights put upon them for the sake of remaining 
in the service. 

Lord Howe's mind was of too high an order to 
entertain such prejudices. A truly great soldier, he 
recognized that European methods of warfare were 
not to be rigidly followed in American forests. He 
made a friend of young Schuyler, who could tell him 
much of the geographical and natural conditions of 
the coming campaign; he was in frequent consultation 
with Stark, Rogers and Putnam, who knew the woods 
and the waterways and had experience of Indian and 
Canadian fighting. But the noble nature which made 
him beloved at The Flatts and its most welcome vis- 
itor, the military genius which attracted the universal 
confidence of the army, were not destined to fulfil their 
mission. "A few days after Lord Howe's departure, 
in the afternoon," says Mrs. Grant, "a man was seen 
coming on horseback from the north, galloping vio- 
lently without his hat. Pedrom, as he was familiarly 
called, the Colonel's only surviving brother, was with 
Aunt Schuyler, and ran instantly to inquire, well know- 
ing he rode express. The man galloped on, crying out 
that Lord Howe was killed. The mind of our good 

60 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

aunt had been so engrossed by her anxiety for the 
event impending, and so impressed by the merit of her 
favorite hero, that her wonted firmness sunk under the 
stroke, and she broke out into bitter lamentations. 
This had such an effect on her friends and domestics 
that shrieks and sobs of anguish echoed through every 
part of the house." Philip Schuyler brought back the 
body of the lamented soldier and placed it in the 
family vault, where it remained until permanently 
interred under the Chancel of St. Peter's Church in 
Albany. Massachusetts erected a monument in West- 
minster Abbey which commemorates the universal 
grief of the colonies. 

When that army of fifteen thousand men, which had 
floated in grand procession over the waters of Lake 
George with flags flying and bands playing, had been 
repulsed with terrible slaughter by Montcalm at 
Ticonderoga ; when the incompetent Abercrombie re- 
mained in supine inactivity, unable to take measures 
to retrieve the disaster, there was great indignation 
among the lesser officers and the troops. None felt 
more strongly than Schuyler's friend, the enterprising 
Bradstreet. After urgent entreaties, he obtained per- 
mission to lead an expedition against Fort Frontenac 
on Lake Ontario. Fort Frontenac was situated on 
the north shore of the lake, and since the destruction of 
the rival English fort, Oswego, on the south shore, it 
commanded the passage of the western lakes. When 
Montcalm had forced Peter Schuyler of New Jersey 

6i 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

to surrender at Oswego and had burned the fort, he 
considered that a great triumph had been achieved for 
Canada. No EngHsh military post then interfered 
with the French possession of that vast western do- 
main. Bradstreet, with a true mihtary instinct, saw 
the importance of taking Fort Frontenac and thus 
shutting off the western trade of Canada. And he 
gave Abercrombie no time to withdraw his permission. 
A contemporary says that "he flew rather than 
marched" over the route to the lake. He had been 
allowed three thousand men, nearly all provincials. 

Philip Schuyler, who understood boat building, 
pushed on in advance with a large party of carpenters 
and boatmen. He found Oswego a charred and 
desolate ruin, with no sign of human occupation but 
the huge wooden cross which the French had planted 
as a sign of their possession. He lost no time in set- 
ting about his work, and in three weeks had built a 
sloop which he called the Mohawk and which was 
capable of carrying the cannon of the expedition to 
Frontenac. 

With the Mohawk and a fleet of boats, Bradstreet 
appeared before Fort Frontenac on the evening of 
August 25th, to the astonishment of Noyau, its com- 
mander. He despatched couriers to M. de Vaudreuil 
at Montreal, begging for reinforcements. The French 
Governor, realizing the importance of the emergency, 
gathered fifteen hundred men from the harvest fields 

62 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

and sent them off in haste. But It was too late. Brad- 
street's cannon, unloaded from the Mohawk, and ad- 
vantageously posted, swept the interior of the fort. 
The Indians fled and the garrison soon surrendered. 
Noyau, the commander, was allowed to go to Mont- 
real on condition that he would effect an exchange 
between himself and Colonel Peter Schuyler, made 
prisoner at Oswego. The capture of Frontenac was 
felt as a very serious blow by Montcalm. It did much 
to retrieve the disgraceful defeat of Abercrombie and 
enhanced the reputation of Bradstreet. Again, the 
real work of the war was done by provincials. 

The active service of Philip Schuyler terminated 
with the expedition against Frontenac. During the 
campaign of Wolfe and Amherst, in 1759, he was 
employed at Albany in collecting and forwarding sup- 
plies for the army. Considering the duties which were 
to be laid upon him in the future, his military experi- 
ence had been of great value. In Johnson's camp at 
Lake George, by Bradstreet's side on the Oswego 
river, he had fought the close and desperate fight 
characteristic of American forests, where man was 
pitted against man, where dauntless courage was es- 
sential, where the scalping knife of the savage awaited 
the wavering or the disabled soldier. He had learned 
the methods of moving large bodies of men in a 
country of rivers and forests, the precautions against 
ambuscade, the building and management of boats. 
The collection and distribution of military stores had 

63 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

been entrusted largely to him, and at the conclusion 
of the war there was no young man in the province 
who understood the duty better. His natural mental 
gifts and the constant association during five years 
with military officers had taught him what a soldier's 
life involved: the importance of discipline, the pro- 
vision for the future, the necessity of meeting varying 
conditions with new expedients. The trained and 
enterprising Bradstreet was a good teacher, the noble 
Howe, an example, the narrow and poor spirited 
Abercrombie a warning. 



64 



Chapter III. 

A Visit to England. — Home and Business Life. — 
Member of Provincial Assembly. — The Revo- 
lution. — Appointed Major-General. 

ON retiring from military service, Schuyler set- 
tled down at The Flatts with his young wife 
and children and devoted himself to his 
private business. But from this pleasant life, he was 
soon called away by a new and Interesting adventure. 
Colonel Bradstreet had another campaign on hand 
in 1760, against the Indian allies of the French In the 
west. His health was poor and he had accounts with 
the government covering several years which gave him 
much anxiety. In this difficulty he turned to his young 
friend Schuyler. "Your zeal, punctuality and strict 
honesty in his Majesty's service," he wrote, "under my 
direction, for several years past, are sufficient proofs 
that I can't leave my public accounts and papers In a 
more faithful hand than yours to be settled, should 
any accident happen to me this campaign; wherefore 
that I may provide against It and that a faithful ac- 
count may be rendered to the public of all the public 
money that I have received since the war, I now de- 
liver to you all my public accounts and vouchers and 

65 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

do hereby empower you to settle them with whomso- 
ever may be appointed for that purpose, either in 
America or England." 

The difficulty of concluding such business satisfac- 
torily in the province determined Schuyler to go to 
London. A visit to Europe was a rare experience for 
a young provincial of those days and this one was 
destined to be adventurous and improving. It was in 
February, 1761, that he sailed in a packet called the 
"General Wall." His mathematical tastes were ap- 
plied at once to a study of navigation; and soon after, 
the captain dying, the proficiency he had acquired re- 
sulted in his being requested by passengers and crew 
to assume the command. Schuyler was then but 
twenty-eight years of age, but experience had given 
him the habit of authority and of self-rehance. He 
navigated the vessel successfully until the coast of 
Europe was near. Although the war was over in 
America, it was still raging between England and 
France, and the "General Wall" was captured by a 
French privateer which put a lieutenant and prize 
crew aboard. Schuyler's knowledge of French now 
stood him in good stead, and he had become on 
friendly terms with his captor, when, as the privateer 
and prize were approaching a French port, they were 
both taken by an English frigate. Thus Schuyler 
reached London in safety with his papers. 

This visit to England could not fail to be inspiring 
to a young man of so progressive a nature. The 

66 



A VISIT TO ENGLAND 

affairs of Colonel Bradstreet were settled permanently 
with the War Office, and his agent was complimented 
on their businesslike presentation. This done, Schuy- 
ler turned his attention to a study of various products 
which the colonies habitually imported from England 
and which he hoped could be produced as well at 
home. Among these were hemp and flax, the cultiva- 
tion of which was soon going on at Saratoga. The 
subject of canals interested him deeply and then began 
his lifelong belief in their importance to America. In 
the pursuit of these practical investigations he estab- 
lished friendly relations with several scientific English- 
men with whom he afterwards corresponded and who 
caused his election as a member of the Society of Arts 
in London. 

The voyage home was uneventful, but as the little 
sloop which took him up the Hudson arrived opposite 
Albany, his eye met an unfamiliar and very pleasing 
sight. A new house had been in contemplation, and 
during Schuyler's absence in Europe, a number of 
carpenters attracted to Albany by the war were left 
idle. Bradstreet advised Mrs. Schuyler to take advan- 
tage of the rare opportunity afforded by this abund- 
ance of skilled labor. The result was the large house 
in the English colonial style which Schuyler observed 
on the side of the hill about half a mile south of 
Albany, a landmark for many years until the town 
grew up around it, a hospitable home for which trav- 
ellers looked as they ascended the river, which still 

67 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

stands in perfect preservation as a testimony to the 
architectural taste and the thorough workmanship of 
the time. The principal guest chamber was on the 
second story on the left hand side; there slept Lafay- 
ette and Lauzun, and Burgoyne after his surrender. 
The pleasure often given by the hospitality of this 
house, in those days of hard and difficult travelling, is 
well shown by an extract from the journal of the Mar- 
quis de Chastellux, written at the close of the Revolu- 
tion: "It was a difficult question to know where I 
should cross the Hudson River the next day, for I was 
told it was neither sufficiently frozen to pass over on 
the ice, nor free enough from flakes to venture it in a 
boat. ... I was only twenty miles from Al- 
bany; so that after a continued journey through a 
forest of fir trees, I arrived at one o'clock on the banks 
of the Hudson. ... A handsome house half 
way up the bank opposite the ferry seemed to attract 
attention and to invite strangers to stop at General 
Schuyler's, who is the proprietor as well as architect. 
I had recommendations to him from all quarters, but 
particularly from General Washington and Mrs. Car- 
ter. Besides, I had given the rendezvous there to 
Colonel Hamilton, who had just married another of 
his daughters, and was preceded by the Vicomte de 
Noailles and the Comte de Damas, who I knew were 
arrived the night before. The sole difficulty therefore 
consisted in passing the river. While the boat was 
making its way with difficulty through the flakes of 

68 




1 












A VISIT TO ENGLAND 

ice, which we were obliged to break as we advanced, 
Mr. Lynch, who is not indifferent about a good din- 
ner, contemplated General Schuyler's house and 
mournfully said to me : 'I am sure the Vicomte and 
Damas are now at table, where they have good cheer 
and good company, while we are here kicking our 
heels, in hopes of getting this evening to some 
wretched ale-house.' I partook a little of his anx- 
iety, but diverted myself by assuring him that they 
saw us from the windows, that I even distinguished 
the Vicomte de Noailles who was looking at us 
through a telescope, and that he was going to send 
somebody to conduct us on our landing to that excel- 
lent house, where we should find dinner ready to come 
on table; I even pretended that a sledge I had seen 
descending towards the river was designed for us. 
As chance would have it, never was conjecture more 
just. The first person we saw on shore was the 
Chevaher de Manduit, who was waiting for us with 
the General's sledge, into which we quickly stepped 
and were conveyed in an instant into a handsome draw- 
ing-room, near a good fire, with Mr. Schuyler, his 
wife and daughters. While we were warming our- 
selves, dinner was served, to which every one did 
honor, as well as to the madeira, which was excellent, 
and made us completely forget the rigour of the sea- 
son and the fatigue of the journey." 

The beneficial effects of the conquest of Canada 
upon the prospects of the province of New York were 

69 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

immediately realized. The ever threatening war 
clouds in the north were replaced by a clear sky. In 
the west the Indian Confederacy now stood alone, no 
longer holding a dangerous balance of power, no 
longer the object of an incessant diplomacy. Face to 
face with a superior race of men, their fate was al- 
ready sealed. Then began the westward movement of 
emigration which, taking on a tremendous impetus 
after the Revolution, never ceased to send its armies 
to the conquest of nature and savagery. 

It was at the beginning of this new sense of possible 
prosperity and expansion, of enterprise and specula- 
tion, that Schuyler returned from England, and he 
threw himself with enthusiasm into the work. From 
a utilitarian point of view, no man knew better the 
physical geography of the province. Already the 
Mohawk Valley was familiar to him, and the lands to 
the westward as far as Oswego had been often tra- 
versed. To the north, his experience in the French 
War had made known to him the character of the 
country about LakesGeorge andChamplain. Through 
his mother, he inherited about nine thousand acres in 
the manor of Cortlandt. His wife has a share of 
Claverack. He had interests in the Van Rensselaer 
property in Columbia County, and made purchases in 
addition to some inheritance in Dutchess County. 
Schuyler was at home in the forest and familiar with 
its signs. The soil where flourished the sugar maple 
and the chestnut, was chosen in preference to that 

70 



HOME AND BUSINESS LIFE 

where the birch reared its white shafts among the 
hemlocks and the pines. The clear spring and running 
stream had their element of value, and he recognized 
the dormant wealth in the waterfall's store of power. 
His judgment in matters of land and colonization soon 
became considered the best in the province and was 
sought by the governors, Sir Henry Moore and 
Tryon, and by such men as William Smith, Jr., Philip 
Livingston, James Duane. In sales and leases in the 
Hudson River manors his advice was constantly asked. 
His knowledge of the Indian character, of previous 
cessions of territory, of the tribal rights in the land, 
was continually called into requisition in new purchases 
and conflicting claims. 

In the summer of 1766, Sir Henry Moore left his 
wife and daughters with Mrs. Schuyler in Albany, 
while he and Schuyler journeyed together up the Mo- 
hawk Valley and purchased large tracts from the 
Indians for Sir Henry himself and for his friend. 
Lord Holland, the father of Charles James Fox. A 
long standing controversy over their boundaries be- 
tween John Van Rensselaer of Claverack and the 
second proprietor of the Livingston manor had caused 
a painful estrangement between their families. The 
genial William Smith, Jr., had met the two hostile 
old men one day in New York as they chanced to pass 
each other opposite his office. He had invited them In 
together, had Induced them to talk over their dispute 
and, as he hoped, had brought about an understanding 

71 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

between them. But a return to their homes on the 
Hudson River seemed to bring about a return to the 
old animosity. It was Philip Schuyler, in whose judg- 
ment on such subjects both the old men had entire 
confidence, who finally settled the boundary and 
brought about a reconciliation. 

Schuyler's most valuable property, which he de- 
veloped with the utmost industry and intelligence, was 
the Saratoga patent. No longer in danger of mid- 
night attack and conflagration, this estate grew in 
beauty and productiveness from year to year. A saw- 
mill, erected under his supervision, and managed by 
men of his own training, converted the forest trees 
into boards and shingles. The woods were succeeded 
by fields of grain. A schooner and two sloops built 
by Schuyler carried the lumber and agricultural pro- 
duce to market at New York, whence they returned 
laden with manufactured articles for use and for sale. 
In those days when the subdivision of labor was yet 
impossible, Schuyler was at once boat builder, farmer, 
lumber and grain merchant, military agent of the gov- 
ernment and real estate expert. At Saratoga were 
tried novel experiments in agriculture, notably the 
cultivation of flax and hemp. In 1767, a large house 
was built there, on the bank of Fish Creek, and this 
became the summer home of the family. The point 
of prosperity and productiveness to which Schuyler 
brought the estate is indicated in a letter written in 
1775, by Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, chaplain of a 

72 



THE FARM AT SARATOGA 

Connecticut regiment, to his wife: "I have been ab- 
sent from ye camp for eleven days, Gen'l Schuyler 
having wished me (as possessing some little skill in 
surgery) to accompany his wife's relative, young V. 
R., who was grievously wounded a short while ago. 
We had a very hard journey through ye wilderness 
carrying ye poor boy on a litter, but after four days 
we arrived safely at Schuyler's Town, where is ye 
Gen'l's country seat, and where Madam Schuyler, who 
is hospitable and handsome (but not so courtly in her 
ways as some one I know) , entertained us finely. Leav- 
ing our charge with her and remaining only over 
twenty-four hours, to give our horses rest, we returned 
to ye fort. I was greatly interested to see ye settle- 
ment at which ye Gen'l S. has laboured for several 
years. Herein he has sought to manufacture and to 
teach ye manufacture of those things which ye colonies 
most need. Here he has erected saw-mills and 
smithies and buildings wherein wool and flax may be 
spun and wove in large quantities, and near by are 
great fields where men and women were cultivating 
flax." 

During the years which preceded the Revolution, 
Schuyler was employed in various public affairs, of 
which the principal was the great quarrel between 
New York and New England regarding their bound- 
aries. This conflict did much to embitter the existing 
intercolonial prejudices; it was a serious obstacle to 

73 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

union in the beginning of the Revolution; and Schuy- 
ler's official connection with it necessarily involved an 
unpopularity with New England men which had un- 
pleasant consequences. 

The old claim of New Netherland to all the land 
west of the Connecticut River was reluctantly aban- 
doned by Stuyvesant, and in his time a commission 
fixed the boundary line at twenty miles to the east of 
the Hudson. This arrangement settled the matter as 
far as Connecticut and Massachusetts were concerned. 
But New Hampshire did not yet exist as a separate 
colony. Consequently New York claimed that the 
twenty mile line stopped at Massachusetts and that 
all the country north of that colony and west of the 
line of the Connecticut River belonged to her. New 
Hampshire denied this, asserted that the twenty mile 
line ran northward indefinitely and gave her possession 
of what is now Vermont. Governor Wentworth issued 
patents to settlers in the disputed territory which thus 
became known as the Hampshire Grants. After the 
French War, when the danger of invasion was re- 
moved, settlers arrived in the Grants in considerable 
numbers, receiving their patents from Governor 
Wentworth, and the townof Bennington was founded. 
Governor Colden of New York protested; the matter 
was laid before the King, who, in 1764, gave judg- 
ment for New York. Wentworth accepted the result 
and the settlers would have done the same; but un- 
fortunately the governor of New York claimed that 

74 



THE HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 

not only he had jurisdiction, but that all the patents 
issued by Wentworth were void. The settlers were 
told that they must abandon or repurchase their lands ; 
and in default, these were in many cases assigned to 
New Yorkers. This unjust and unwise proceeding 
provoked an armed rebellion among the people of the 
Grants, in which they were supported by New Eng- 
land. New Yorkers who tried to take possession of 
lands were resisted with bloodshed. A state of civil 
war existed up to the Revolution, and the dispute was 
never settled until Vermont was admitted to the Union 
as a State. 

Although Schuyler had little to do with the rights 
and wrongs of the case, the responsibility for which 
belonged to Government House in New York, his 
position as a member of the commission on the bound- 
aries, his authority as colonel of militia to whom was 
confided the preservation of order in the northern part 
of the province, marked him as a champion of the 
cause of New York. His name became identified In 
the Hampshire Grants and to some degree In New 
England with proceedings rightly regarded as unjust 
and tyrannical. The deeply rooted prejudice of the 
New England men against a Dutchman was thus sup- 
plemented by animosity and suspicion. As we shall 
see, the result was unfortunate for Schuyler when 
called to command New England troops. 

In 1768, when thirty-five years of age, Colonel 

75 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Schuyler was elected a member of the provincial as- 
sembly. This body was small in numbers, was chosen 
by freeholders only and sat for seven years; conse- 
quently its seats were the object of a lively competi- 
tion. Schuyler had been rather reluctant to take this 
step. His extensive and growing interests in the 
northern part of the province absorbed his attention; 
the hospitalities of his houses at Albany and Saratoga, 
where judges and lawyers on circuit, distinguished 
travellers and many relatives were constantly stopping, 
furnished him with sufficient society. But the times 
were troubled and a number of influential men urged 
him to take an active part in politics, not a few of 
whom, like Sir William Johnson, were afterwards to 
regret the presence of so powerful an opponent. 

When Schuyler took his seat in the last Assembly of 
the province of New York, the preliminary skirmish 
between the British Ministry and the colonies had been 
fought and won. At the time of the passage of the 
Stamp Act in 1765, the Colonial Assembly had a good 
majority of the popular party and were able to make 
a strong stand against the enforcement of the Act. In 
this opposition, the support given by all ranks of the 
people was nearly unanimous. The educated classes 
saw plainly that the principle involved in the Act was 
contrary to their hereditary rights as Englishmen and 
they opposed it with the reasonable determination of 
free and Intelligent men. John Cruger, Robt. R. 
Livingston, Philip Livingston, William Bayard and 

76 



THE STAMP ACT 

Leonard LIspenard represented the province in the 
Stamp Act Congress which met in New York and 
on behalf of nine colonies sent to England their Dec- 
laration of Rights and Petition to the King. The mer- 
chants struck a telling blow at British trade by ceasing 
their importations. The lower classes of the people 
were well instructed on the issues by the addresses and 
leadership of Alexander Macdougall, William Liv- 
ingston and John Morin Scott. The resolution not to 
receive the stamps was so strong, the riotous demon- 
strations of the patriot organization called the Sons of 
Liberty were so threatening, that neither Governor 
Moore nor General Gage dared to take any decisive 
steps. Not knowing what to do with the packages of 
stamps, the presence of which in any building invited 
the torch, the governor ordered them placed on board 
the British ship "Coventry," then lying in the harbor. 
But Archibald Kennedy, its commander, who had mar- 
ried Miss Watts and through her owned a beautiful 
house on Broadway opposite the Bowling Green and 
much other property in the city, had too much regard 
for his own interests to take the risk of receiving them. 
Reasonable resistance and popular force defeated the 
Stamp Act. The ministry despised the former and re- 
solved to crush the latter. 

During this struggle the province of New York 
hardly abated its loyalty to the King or its desire for 
continued union with the mother country. The 
quarrel had been with the ministry, and that over, the 

17 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

people were glad to forgive and forget. However, 
there were some men who saw deeply Into the signifi- 
cance of what had passed, who anticipated a renewal 
of the struggle and began to speak of independence. 
Among these was the bold and eloquent lawyer, John 
Morin Scott, whose addresses had Instructed and 
aroused the meetings of the Sons of Liberty. His 
shrewd political Insight deduced from the circum- 
stances of the present the facts of ten years later. "If 
the Interest of the mother country and her colonies," 
he said In 1765, "cannot be made to coincide, If the 
same constitution cannot take place In both, If the wel- 
fare of the mother country necessarily requires a sacri- 
fice of the most valuable natural rights of the colonies, 
— their right of making their own laws and disposing 
of their own property by representatives of their own 
choosing, then the connection between them ought to 
cease, and sooner or later It must Inevitably cease. The 
English government cannot long act toward a part of 
its dominions upon principles diametrically opposed to 
its own without losing itself In the slavery it would 
impose upon the colonies, or teaching them to throw 
it off and assert Its freedom." 

The next step of the British Ministry was to place 
a military force In New York sufiiciently strong to in- 
sure the success of their new projects of taxation. The 
appearance of the soldiery aroused the old animosities 
and renewed the conflicts between them and the Sons 

7S 



THE BEGINNING OE REVOLUTION 

of Liberty. The Assembly which had successfully op- 
posed the Stamp Act was now instructed by Governor 
Moore to vote the money for the maintenance of the 
military force which had been sent to crush the liber- 
ties of its constituents. Its persistent refusal was fol- 
lowed by prorogation. This new evidence of in- 
tended tyranny drew prophetic words from the pen of 
William Livingston, which voiced the sense of power 
and self-reliance in the colonies which had been grow- 
ing steadily since the French War. "Courage, Amer- 
icans!" he wrote in 1767, "Liberty, religion and 
science are on the wing to these shores. The finger of 
God points out a mighty empire to your sons. The 
savages of the wilderness were never expelled to make 
room for idolaters and slaves. The land we possess 
is the gift of heaven to our fathers, and divine provi- 
dence seems to have decreed it to our latest posterity. 
The day dawns in which the foundation of this mighty 
empire is to be laid, by the establishment of a regular 
American Constitution. All that has been done hith- 
erto seems to be little beside the collection of materials 
for this glorious fabric. 'Tis time to put them to- 
gether. The transfer of the European family is so 
vast, and our growth so swift, that before seven years 
roll over our heads the first stone must be laid." 

While such clear-sighted patriots as Scott and Wil- 
liam Livingston could look clearly into the future, the 
people in general mistook a truce for a peace. Sir 

79 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Henry Moore's conciliatory attitude Induced a re- 
action toward loyalty, and when Schuyler took his seat 
in the Assembly In 1768, he found the Royalist party, 
led by the de Lanceys, In control. In this assembly, 
New York was represented by James de Lancey, 
Philip Livingston, Jacob Walton, James Jauncey, 
Isaac Low, John Cruger, and John Alsop. From 
Westchester, came Frederick Phlllpse; from the 
borough of Westchester, John de Lancey; from Ul- 
ster county, George Clinton. Schuyler's old friend 
" Brom," Abraham Ten Broeck, represented the 
manor of Rensselaerwyck ; Peter R. Livingston, that 
of Livingston, and Pierre Van Cortlandt, that of 
Cortlandt. Schuyler and Clinton were new members, 
both destined to long and distinguished careers. Now, 
and throughout the Revolution, we see them working 
in unison, for the independence of their country; but 
that attained, and In the face of new problems, they 
will be found In hostile camps. 

From the beginning of the dissensions between the 
mother country and the colonies, Schuyler had ranged 
himself distinctly on the American side. He was pres- 
ent at the great dinner In New York given to cele- 
brate the repeal of the Stamp Act, and he accom- 
panied the Sons of Liberty to Trinity Church to hear 
the congratulatory address delivered by Dr. Auch- 
muty. From 1768 to 1774, the records of the Assem- 
blyshow him to have been active in all matters pertain- 
ing to the industrial and commercial welfare of the 

80 



THE BEGINNING OF REVOLUTION 

colony, taking frequent part In debate, and asserting 
the rights of the province In the fitful but never-ending 
quarrel with the ministry In England. Of the pa- 
triotic resolutions introduced into the Assembly, some 
of the boldest were drafted by him, and It was at his 
suggestion that Edmund Burke was appointed the 
agent of New York In England. 

The frequent conflicts between the soldiery and the 
people, the Imprisonment of Alexander Macdougall, 
kept alive the fires of discord which were to burst into 
flame with the tax on tea in 1774. The Impatience of 
the colonists under the tyrannical assumptions of the 
English Ministry, and at the same time their senti- 
ment of conscious strength, are curiously exemplified 
In the following anecdote. Robert Livingston, the 
second son of the founder of the manor, was then a 
hale old man of eighty-five years of age, still wearing 
the wig, knee breeches, and large-skirted coat of a 
previous generation. He was conversing one day in 
the year 1773, In the library at Clermont, with his son. 
Judge Robert R., his grandson, Robert R., the future 
Chancellor, and Richard Montgomery, when he ex- 
clalmer* . " It is Intolerable that a continent like 
Ame'xa should be governed by a little Island, three 
thousand miles away. America must and will be 
independent. My son, you will not live to see It; 
Montgomery, you may; Robert," addressing his 
grandson, " you will." Judge Livingston died soon 
after, and It was on the eve of the Declaration of 

81 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Independence that Montgomery fell gloriously at 
Quebec. The prophecy was fulfilled when the young 
Robert served with Jefferson, Franklin, Sherman, and 
Adams on the committee appointed by the continental 
congress to draft the Declaration. 

On the great questions of the time, public opinion 
in New York divided the people into three parties. 
There were the Sons of Liberty, representing the 
loudest, if not the sincerest patriotism, advocating ex- 
treme measures, under the leadership of Scott, Mac- 
dougall. Sears, and Lamb. They prevented by force 
the landing of the tea; and It was at their great meet- 
ing in " The Fields," where Alexander Hamilton 
made his maiden speech. At the other extreme were 
the Tories, disposed to submit to any measures which 
seemed good to the ministry of Great Britain. Be- 
tween these two stood a party considerable In wealth 
and influence, led by substantial merchants and able 
lawyers, having more at stake and being more con- 
servative than the Sons of Liberty, while excelling the 
Tories in attachment to their adopted country and in 
independence of character. This party, soon to be- 
come the bone and sinew of the Revolution, remained, 
up to the Declaration of Independence, sincerely desir- 
ous of a reconciliation with Great Britain, but deter- 
mined not to accept it at the expense of legitimate 
rights. 

The New York assembly, containing a majority 

82 



IN THE PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY 

of Tories, became less and less representative as mat- 
ters advanced. The vote of thanks to the merchants 
for their non-importation agreement, the motion to 
appoint delegates to the continental congress, every 
patriotic movement, was defeated by the same major- 
ity, while in the minority were always recorded the 
names of Schuyler, Van Cortlandt, Clinton, Ten 
Broeck, and Livingston. 

In the spring of 1774, Governor Tryon departed 
for England to give personal information to the 
ministry of the situation in the colonies. During his 
absence, the executive office was held by Lieutenant- 
Governor Cadwallader Colden, " Old Caddy," as 
William Smith called him, a strong Tory. Colden 
kept Tryon informed of events in New York. " Colo- 
nel Schuyler and Clinton hold forth in the opposition," 
he wrote in February, 1775. A little later he mentions 
de Lancey and Wilkins as the strong men on the 
Royalist side, but Wilkins, he thought, was the only 
one who could hold his own in debate with Schuyler 
and Clinton. In April, he writes: " Our Assembly 
have pursued a plan of conduct which I hope will be 
satisfactory to his Majesty and his ministers. They 
have sent a petition to the King, a memorial to the 
Lords, and a remonstrance to the Commons, all ex- 
pressed, especially the petition to the King, in a very 
moderate, decent style. I am persuaded that It will 
give you some concern, sir, to hear that Colonel Schuy- 
ler, Ten Broeck, and Livingston made a violent oppo- 

83 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

sitlon in the House to these measures, and have made 
it evident throughout the sessions that they wished to 
bring this colony into all the dangerous and extrava- 
gant schemes which disgrace too many of the sister 
colonies. They openly espoused the cause of the last 
congress, and strove hard to have delegates ap- 
pointed by the House for that which is to be held in 
May. They are now gone home to get that done by 
the election of the people which they could not effect 
in the House." 

In 1774, New York was represented in the conti- 
nental congress by Philip Livingston, John Alsop, 
Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay, who had 
been chosen by the Committee of Fifty-one. In 1775 
a provincial convention was held to choose delegates 
who added to the previous list, George Clinton, 
Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Robert R. Livingston, 
and Philip Schuyler. 

On the morning of Monday, April 24th, Schuyler 
left New York in one of his sloops for Albany. The 
same afternoon, the news of the battle of Lexington 
reached New York. A sloop was despatched at once 
to convey the intelligence to Albany, but it was four 
days on its journey, and it was not until Saturday that 
Schuyler received it at his country seat at Saratoga. 
That evening, he wrote to John Cruger, who was 
preparing for a voyage to England on account of ill- 
health, a letter which well expressed the sentiments 

84 



SCHUYLER'S VIEW OF THE CRISIS 

with which he viewed this great crisis in his country's 
history : 

"Of course, long ere this you have received the 
news from Boston. My heart bleeds as I view the 
horrors of civil war, but we have only left us the 
choice between such evils and slavery. For myself, 1 
can say with Sempronius: 

* Heavens ! can a Roman Senate long debate 
Which of the two to choose, slavery or death ! 
No ; let us arise at once,' etc. 

for we should be unworthy of our ancestors if we 
should tamely submit to an insolent and wicked min- 
istry, and supinely wait for a gracious answer to a 
petition to the King, of which, as a member of the 
Assembly who sent it, I am ashamed. I know there 
are difficulties in the way. The loyal and the timid 
in this province are many, yet I believe that when the 
question is fairly put, as it is really so put by this 
m.assacre in Massachusetts Bay, whether we shall be 
ruled by a military despotism, or fight for right and 
freedom, the great majority of the people will choose 
the latter. For my own part, much as I love peace — 
much as I love my own domestic happiness and re- 
pose, and desire to see my countrymen enjoying the 
blessings flowing from undisturbed industry, I would 
rather see all these scattered to the winds for a time, 
and the sword of desolation go over the land, than to 
recede one line from the just and righteous position 
we have taken as free-born subjects of Great Britain. 

85 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

I beg you, my dear sir, If your health shall permit 
when you arrive In England, to use all your Influence 
there to convince the people and the rulers that we 
were never more determined to contend for our rights 
than at this moment — that we consider ourselves not 
aggressors, but defenders — and that he who believes 
that our late Assembly truly represented the feelings 
and wishes of our people Is greatly deceived. I have 
watched the course of the poHtlcal currents for many 
months with great anxiety, and have been, for more 
than a year, fully convinced that unless Great Britain 
should be more just and wise than In times past, war 
was Inevitable. It is now actually begun; and In the 
spirit of Joshua I say, I care not what others may do, 
' as for me and my house,' we will serve our coun- 
try." 

The next day Schuyler attended church In Albany, 
where the news from New England absorbed all at- 
tention. " I well remember," records an eye-witness, 
" the Impressive manner with which, in my hearing, 
my father told my uncle that blood had been shed In 
Lexington! The startling intelligence spread like 
wildfire among the congregation. The preacher's 
voice was listened to with very little attention. After 
the morning discourse was finished and the people 
were dismissed, we gathered about Philip Schuyler 
for further information. He was the oracle of our 
neighborhood. We looked up to him with a feeling 

86 



ATTITUDE OF NEW YORK 

of respect and affection. His popularity was un- 
bounded; his views upon all subjects were considered 
sound, and his anticipations almost prophetic. On 
this occasion he confirmed the intelligence already re- 
ceived and expressed his belief that an important crisis 
had arrived which must forever separate us from the 
parent state." 

In April, after the battle of Lexington, was organ- 
ized the Provincial Congress, which superseded the 
old Royal Assembly and formed the new government 
of New York. It is interesting to observe the con- 
servative nature of this Assembly, and, in the midst 
of a revolution, its wise dread of the consequences of 
revolution. These men were no lovers of change; if 
they rebelled, it was against their will. As late as the 
end of June, 1775, they wrote to the New York 
representatives in the continental congress at Phila- 
delphia : 

" Deeply impressed with the importance, the utility 
and necessity of an accommodation with our parent 
state, and conscious that the best service that we can 
render to the present and all future generations must 
consist in promoting it; we have laboured without 
intermission to point out such moderate terms as may 
tend to reconcile the unhappy differences which 
threaten the whole empire with destruction. 
We must now repeat to you the common and just ob- 
servation that contests for liberty, fostered in their 
infancy by the virtuous and wise, become sources of 

87 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

power to wicked and designing men. Whence it fol- 
lows that such controversies as we are now engaged in 
frequently end in the demolition of those rights and 
privileges which they are instituted to defend. We 
pray you, therefore, to use every effort for the com- 
promising of this unnatural quarrel between the 
parent and child; and if such terms as you think best 
shall not be complied with, earnestly to labour that 
at least some terms may be held up, whereby a treaty 
shall be set on foot to restore peace and harmony to 
our country and spare the further effusion of human 
blood. So that, if even at the last our well-meant en- 
deavors shall fail of effect, we may stand fair and 
unreproachable by our own consciences, in the last sol- 
emn appeal to the God of Battles." 

The last solemn appeal was soon forced upon them ; 
and the provincial assembly of New York was re- 
quested by the continental congress to name one of the 
major-generals and one of the brigadier-generals who 
should lead the forces of the new nation in its com- 
ing struggle. It was in the following letter that the 
assembly unanimously recommended Philip Schuyler 
to be major-general, and Richard Montgomery to be 
brigadier-general. 

" We take the liberty for the present to furnish you 
with our sentiments on the appointment of a major- 
and a brigadier-general and submit them to your su- 
perior wisdom either for use or concealment. . . . 



APPOINTED MAJOR-GENERAL 

Courage, prudence, readiness In expedients, nice per- 
ception, sound judgment, and great attention — these 
are a few of the natural qualities which appear to us 
to be proper. To these ought to be added an exten- 
sive acquaintance with the sciences, particularly the 
various branches of mathematic knowledge; long 
practice in the military art, and above all a knowl- 
edge of mankind. On a general in America, fortune 
also should bestow her gifts, that he may rather com- 
municate lustre to his dignities than receive it; and 
that his country, in his property, his kindred and con- 
nections may have sure pledges that he will faithfully 
perform the duties of his high office and readily lay 
down his power when the general weal requires It. 
Since we cannot do all that we wish, we will go as far 
towards It as we can, and therefore you will not be sur- 
prised to hear that we are unanimous In the choice of 
Colonel Philip Schuyler and Captain Richard Mont- 
gomery to the offices of major- and brigadier-generals. 
If we knew how to recommend them to your notice 
more strongly than by telling you, that after consider- 
ing the qualifications above stated, these gentlemen 
were approved of without a single dissent, our regard 
to the public service would certainly lead us to do It 
in the most forcible terms. Nor will we enter Into 
a minute detail of the characters and situations of two 
gentlemen with whom our delegates cannot but be 
acquainted. In a word, we warmly recommend them, 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

because we have no doubts that their appointment 
will give general satisfaction." 

It was inevitable that the colony should seek the 
military services of Richard Montgomery and should 
give him a high rank in its new army. Formerly a 
captain in the British service and a man of the highest 
character, he did not need his connection with the 
Livingston family to recommend him for a position 
for which no one was better fitted. 

But in the choice of a major-general, the provincial 
assembly had a different and more difficult problem. 
This officer should have military capacity and experi- 
ence, but he must be more than a soldier; he must be 
an organizer of men, a provider of food and arms, an 
executive head of a new and now all important branch 
of the government. War existed, and generals were 
appointed; but the army was to be raised, clothed, 
armed and fed. Here was a vast and trying business 
necessarily placed on the shoulders of military leaders 
in a country where no ready machinery existed for 
providing the ways and means. As we look over the 
names of men who then, and for a decade afterwards, 
took the lead in New York, we can hardly find one 
whom the Assembly might have considered in compe- 
tition with Schuyler. George Clinton had as yet 
neither military experience nor the influence of family 
and business connections. The Van Rensselaer, Liv- 
ingston and Van Cortlandt families furnished good 
officers, but none who had seen service and none who 

90 



APPOINTED MAJOR-GENERAL 

attained positions of the first responsibility. Men in 
the province of New York who afterwards rose to 
high and some to the highest distinction in statesman- 
ship and diplomacy, men like Robert R. and Philip 
Livingston, James Duane, John Jay, and Gouverneur 
Morris, were not adapted for such an office as major- 
general in the Continental army. 

Schuyler was chosen at once and unanimously be- 
cause many circumstances pointed to him as pre- 
eminently fitted. He had an honorable military rec- 
ord, like Washington and Putnam, in the French and 
Indian War. He had not only seen fighting, but as 
commissary in the English army, he had learned the 
business of supplying and transporting the munitions 
of war in a country almost without roads. Von 
Moltke has said that geography was a principal 
element in military art. This saying was never more 
true than in Its application to our revolutionary cam- 
paigns. And in the geography of his native province 
Schuyler's knowledge was unrivalled. In his fond- 
ness for solving mathematical problems, In his navi- 
gation of the " General Wall " across the ocean, in 
the building of his mills and the development of his 
lands, he had shown that adaptability to circumstances 
and that fertility in expedients which the Assembly 
had considered essential in their general. The wealth 
which he had inherited, and still more, that which he 
had acquired, his extensive influence and family con- 
nections were recognized as additional recommcnda- 

91 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

tlons In a man whose public career hitherto had given 
every proof of enlightened patriotism. Such were the 
qualifications which caused the choice of Schuyler as 
the major-general appointed by New York. But 
there were circumstances, not then apparent, which 
were destined to interfere with his success and happi- 
ness In the work which he undertook for his country. 
The rheumatic gout of his youth was an ever present 
menace and would attack him again when he needed 
all his strength. He was of Dutch descent, and a 
man identified with the New York side of the quarrel 
over the Hampshire Grants. These latter circum- 
stances were sure to excite the prejudice and mistrust 
of New England troops. 



92 



Chapter IV. 

Schuyler in Command of the Northern Department. 

— The Invasion of Canada. — The Johnsons 

and Tories. 

ON the morning of June 21, 1775, George 
Washington, Philip Schuyler, and Charles 
Lee rode out of the streets of Philadelphia, 
journeying northward. Among the many acts of wis- 
dom recorded of the first Congress of the United 
Colonies, none was destined to bear such precious 
fruit as the choice for commander-in-chief of him in 
whose keeping had been placed the country's defence. 
As dispassionately as those men had surveyed the is- 
sues of the conflict, as unerringly as they had defined 
their just rights, so had they chosen the man who, 
above all, was fitted to lead in action during the 
arduous and disheartening years to come. 

There were interesting points of contrast between 
the three general officers now earnestly conferring as 
they urged their horses along the Trenton road. 
Washington and Schuyler were both entering on mid- 
dle life; both tall, well-made men, impressive in as- 
pect. The first, an Englishman of Virginia, coming 
from his ancestral home on the banks of the Potomac; 

93 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

the second, a Dutchman of New York, whose stately 
dweUing looked down upon the Hudson. Both were 
Americans at heart and in principle. Both represented 
the best class in their respective communities, and they 
were born in the two colonies of all the most aristo- 
cratic in social structure. Both had seen service in 
the old French and Indian War and knew the difficul- 
ties peculiar to fighting in a vast wooded and roadless 
country. Washington had been with Braddock on 
the disastrous day in the Virginia forest; and Schuy- 
ler with Sir William Johnson in the memorable fight 
at Lake George. The acquaintance of the two gen- 
erals dated from the recent meeting at Philadelphia, 
where they had served together on a military com- 
mittee. This journey ripened a friendship which 
never suffered any interruption. Washington ac- 
quired a regard for Schuyler's ability and character 
which he never failed to assert. Schuyler recognized 
the nobility of soul and the perfect balance of mind 
on which rested the superiority of the commander-in- 
chief, and from this time he never ceased to look up 
to him as to one to whom it was an honor to pay a 
tribute of devotion and affection. 

While Washington and Schuyler were Americans, 
staking their lands, their homes and their lives with 
patriotic self-sacrifice, Charles Lee was a selfish mili- 
tary adventurer, entering the quarrel for what he 
could make of it, even now nourishing a jealous hatred 
of Washington, whom he considered to have robbed 

94 



THE NEWS OF BUNKER HILL 

him of the position of commander-in-chief. Mean in 
spirit and slovenly in person, he presented the same 
contrast to his companions that his conduct In the 
war was to present to theirs. To Washington he was 
a recent acquaintance. But Schuyler could not have 
forgotten some scenes in which Lee had figured at 
The Flatts, seventeen years before, when, as a cap- 
tain in Abercromble's army, he had exhibited the 
stupid arrogance which formed the chief trait in his 
character. That the Congress at Philadelphia should 
have given high military rank to Lee, and that Wash- 
ington and Schuyler should have deferred at first to 
his supposed experience, was an illustration of the 
respect yet supposed to be due in the colonies to every- 
thing belonging to the mother country. 

The party had proceeded about twenty miles when 
a courier was met galloping toward Philadelphia with 
despatches for Congress which contained the news of 
the battle of Bunlcer Hill. In the excitement that 
ensued, Washington's inquiries went immediately to 
the main point : How did the militia behave? Did 
they hold their ground under fire? And when he 
heard the answer, he exclaimed: "The liberties of 
the country are safe." Then they hastened through 
the Jerseys, over the ground that was soon to be the 
battlefields of Trenton and of Princeton, past Nassau 
Hall to Newark, where General Montgomery was 
waiting to escort them to New York. 

On the same day, the British man-of-war upon 

95 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

which Governor Tryon was returning from England 
was sighted in the lower bay. The almost simul- 
taneous arrival of the English governor and of the 
American commander-in-chief was a source of much 
embarrassment to the authorities of New York, di- 
vided and uncertain as they were. It was decided at 
last to pay equal honors to both in the order of their 
arrival. 

Washington appeared first, riding down Broadway 
with Schuyler and Montgomery. The militia saluted 
him, and Peter V. B. Livingston, as President of the 
Provincial Congress, made an address which showed 
how strong Was the old English dread of military 
domination: " Confiding in you, sir, and in the 
worthy generals immediately under your command, 
we have the most flattering hopes of success in the 
glorious struggle for American liberty, and the full- 
est assurances that whenever this important contest 
shall be decided by that fondest wish of every Ameri- 
can soul, an accommodation with our mother country, 
you will cheerfully resign the important deposit com- 
mitted into your hands, and re-assume the character 
of our worthiest citizen." To which Washington 
replied: "As to the fatal, but necessary operations 
of war: When we assumed the soldier, we did not 
lay aside the citizen; and we shall most sincerely re- 
joice with you in that happy hour, when the estab- 
lishment of American liberty on the most firm and 
solid foundations, shall enable us to return to our 

96 



POSITION OF NEW YORK 

private stations in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and 
happy country." 

In the evening, Governor Tryon landed, receiving 
the same honors from the militia and city officials, but, 
of course, no greeting from the Provincial Congress. 
A cheering crowd of loyalists accompanied him to 
Government House, and two British men-of-war rode 
at anchor off the Battery, ready to obey his commands. 
Tryon had been a popular official, and he now sought 
to avoid all unnecessary friction. Schuyler, who had 
been on terms of personal friendship with him, was 
not obliged, in these changed conditions, to do more 
than ignore his presence in Government House. 

That evening a conference took place between 
Washington and Schuyler, at which the latter received 
his instructions as commander of the Revolutionary 
forces in the province of New York. The next morn- 
ing Washington set out on his journey to Cambridge, 
there to take command of the American army and 
to conduct the successful campaign which expelled 
the British from Boston. Schuyler accompanied him 
as far as New Rochelle and then returned to face the 
new and trying situation in which his appointment 
placed him. 

New York was one of the smaller colonies, rank- 
ing only seventh in point of population. But it was 
strategically the most important of all. It separated 
New England from New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, 
and the Carolinas. British control meant the division 

97 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

of American forces and the prevention of co-opera- 
tion between the northern and the southern provinces. 
Vital as was its possession to the American cause, 
there were circumstances which rendered its security 
a matter of great doubt and difficulty. British sea- 
power marked for its own the port of New York. 
The colonies had not a ship to protect it; there Eng- 
lish fleets could enter and land troops at will. In the 
north was Canada, where hostile armies could muster 
undisturbed for invasion. To the west lay the wilder- 
ness with its Six Nations of Indians under the con- 
trol, as far as they submitted to any, of Sir John and 
Colonel Guy Johnson. The latter had come out un- 
reservedly for the King, and already disturbances and 
rumors of savage warfare were alarming the settle- 
ments west of the Hudson. 

Thus threatened from without, New York was 
subject more than any other colony to the internal 
danger of British loyalty or lukewarmness toward the 
patriot cause among its own inhabitants. Philip 
Schuyler, Philip Livingston, John Alsop, James 
Duane, John Jay, Francis Lewis, Alexander Mac- 
dougall, George Clinton, Lewis Morris, Philip Van 
Cortlandt, Robert R. Livingston, Egbert Benson, are 
names now distinguished because their bearers risked 
all and did all for their country. But there were many 
men of high social advantages and ability who held 
aloof and waited, or were actively hostile. The city 
of New York was commercial and aristocratic. Both 

98 



SCHUYLER IN COMMAND 

of these Interests were averse to disturbance and re- 
liant upon friendly Intercourse with the mother coun- 
try. However they might resent ministerial Injustice, 
they dreaded extreme measures which upset business, 
disturbed social order, and would end none could tell 
where. In the country districts were many settlers 
to whom English loyalty was a habit, who appreciated 
the possible hardships of a conflict much more vividly 
than the importance of the points at Issue. A con- 
siderable portion of the population, therefore, could 
not be relied upon for assistance. 

On the shoulders of Philip Schuyler now rested the 
responsibility for the military control of the northern 
portion of the province. He was not a soldier by 
profession. The abilities which In peaceful occupa- 
tions had raised him to leadership In his community 
must be applied to new and exacting problems. The 
Provincial Congress was ready to give him every sup- 
port In Its power, but It looked to him for informa- 
tion In military affairs. There was no governmental 
machinery for raising an army, nor for providing the 
great and varied supplies without which an army could 
not exist. For the present, Schuyler must be his own 
quartermaster, commissary and recruiting oificer. 

In a few days he had Informed himself and 
had reported to the Provincial Congress concern- 
ing the armed forces then available and the sup- 
plies most needed. In the neighborhood of the 
city were General Wooster's Connecticut regiment 

Lot C. 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

of about five hundred men and Colonel David 
Waterbury's of about nine hundred. At Ticon- 
deroga and at different points near Lake George 
were about twelve hundred more, chiefly from New 
England. The total was less than three thousand, 
and they were enlisted for such short terms that 
the army would speedily melt away unless constantly 
recruited. Among the supplies asked for were natu- 
rally such obvious requirements as tents, arms, pow- 
der, food, clothing, and medicines. But as we read 
the long lists of subsidiary articles requested of the 
Congress by Schuyler, the tools for the gunsmith, 
blacksmith, carpenter, and boat builder, the rope and 
oakum and nails for the boats to be built, the shovels 
and pickaxes for intrenching, we see the general's 
woodcraft, his personal knowledge of what men would 
need while campaigning in forests and over water- 
ways. 

Before leaving New York for the north, Schuyler 
made an address to the troops through the medium 
of a letter to General Wooster. " America," he said, 
" has recourse to arms merely for her safety and de- 
fence, and in resisting oppression she will not oppress. 
She wages no war of ambition, content if she can only 
retain the fair inheritance of English law and English 
liberty. Such being the purity of her intentions, no 
stain must be suffered to disgrace our arms. We are 
soldiers ambitious only to aid in restoring the violated 
rights of citizens, and these secured, we are to return 

100 



ADDRESS TO THE TROOPS 

Instantly to the business and employments of civilized 
life. Let it be a truth deeply impressed on the minds 
of everyone of us who bear arms, and let us evince to 
the world that, in contending for liberty, we abhor li- 
centiousness; that, in resisting the misrule of tyrants, 
we shall support government honestly administered. 
All unnecessary violence to the persons or property 
of his Majesty's subjects must, therefore, most strictly 
be forbidden and avoided. Let us act as becomes the 
virtuous citizen, who seeks for the aid of righteous 
heaven and the just applause of an impartial world. 
Liberty, Safety, and Peace are our objects — the es- 
tablishment of the Constitution and not the lust of 
dominion. . . . These are principles I wish 
deeply Implanted in the heart of every soldier I have 
the honor to command. They will lead us to glory — 
they will merit for us the esteem of our countrymen." 
While public sentiment In New York was yet in- 
clined to a policy of waiting and trusting to an accom- 
modation with the mother country, in New England 
the bloodshed at Lexington had aroused an aggressive 
feeling and a desire to strike some defiant blow at 
British power. In the old wars in America between 
England and France, It was well remembered that 
Ticonderoga had been the great military prize. The 
mountain fortress between Lakes George and Cham- 
plain which controlled the passage to Canada — there 
had been fought the bloodiest and the most decisive 
battles. Hence had come the suggestion of the bold 

i®i 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

expedition of Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen, 
which, on the night of the loth of May, had sur- 
prised the garrison of Ticonderoga and had placed 
the fort and its military supphes in the power of the 
Continental forces. 

This striking feat seemed to open the door to 
Canada. Congress, hitherto reluctant, now resolved 
upon an invasion and confided its conduct to Schuyler. 
He left New York on the fourth of July in a sloop, 
stopped at Albany for a few days to take measures 
for the protection of the western frontier against the 
Johnson family and their Indian allies, and arrived 
at Ticonderoga on the eighteenth. 

Then ensued six weeks of military preparations 
under great difficulties. Schuyler's letter books are 
filled with correspondence with the Congress at Phila- 
delphia, with the Provincial Congress at New York, 
with Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, relating to 
the accumulation of men, money, arms, clothing, lead, 
powder, and materials for boat-building at Ticon- 
deroga. His own ingenuity and credit were strained 
to the utmost. When he first arriv^ed the situation 
seemed almost hopeless. " I have neither boats suffi- 
cient," he wrote to Congress, " nor any materials for 
building them. The stores I ordered from New York 
are not yet arrived. I have, therefore, not a nail, no 
pitch, no oakum, and want a variety of articles indis- 
pensably necessary, which I estimated and delivered 
into the New York Congress on the 3d instant. An 

10^ 



MILITARY DIFFICULTIES 

almost equal scarcity of ammunition exists, no powder 
having yet come to hand; not a gun carriage for the 
few proper guns we have, and as yet very little pro- 
vision. There are now two hundred less troops than 
by my last return. These are badly, very badly 
armed, indeed, and only one poor armorer to repair 
their guns." The Provincial Congress wrote : " Our 
troops can be of no service to you. They have no 
arms, clothes, blankets, or ammunition; the officers 
no commissions, our treasury no money, ourselves in 
debt. It is in vain to complain. We will remove 
difficulties as fast as we can, and send you soldiers 
whenever the men we have raised are entitled to that 
name." With these obstacles, great as they were, 
Schuyler was fitted to contend. He struggled hard, 
and by the end of August had fifteen hundred men 
fairly armed and equipped, and boats ready to convey 
them up the lake. 

But there were other difficulties more serious to 
Schuyler, and which his character and education were 
less adapted to meet successfully. In the preparation 
for this expedition it was understood that Connecti- 
cut should provide men and that New York should 
provide money and supplies. It turned out to be an 
unfortunate arrangement. The jealousy and enmity 
between the inhabitants of New York and of Con- 
necticut were strong. The New England troops were 
extremely averse to placing themselves under the 
command of a general from New York, especially 

103 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

when that officer was " a Dutchman " who had main- 
tained the right of his colony to the Hampshire 
Grants. Schuyler naturally placed all provisions from 
whatever source at the disposal of the troops as a 
whole. But Connecticut officers objected to Connecti- 
cut flour being supplied to New York men, and 
claimed that they should have sole control over all 
provisions sent by their colony. Such an idea as 
continental union for the general good of all was too 
new yet for acceptance. 

Schuyler had requested the appointment of his 
nephew, Walter Livingston, as deputy commissary- 
general, and Congress had appointed him. When his 
commission arrived, Livingston happened to be in 
company with Elisha Phelps and Zebediah Strong, 
who had been sent as commissaries in charge of Con- 
necticut supplies. Livingston's commission as com- 
missary-general, issued by the Continental Congress, 
took precedence of those of Phelps and Strong. The 
result was a quarrel and an appeal to Schuyler. He 
explained the matter to Phelps, who yielded grace- 
fully, but Strong could not control his feeling at be- 
coming subordinate to a New York officer. *' God 
forbid," he wrote to Schuyler, " that any overgrown 
colony or overhearing man should at this critical junc- 
ture use such pernicious partiality as to attempt to 
monopolize every emolument." He apologized later 
for this language, but the incident was one of many 

104 



INSUBORDINATION OF MILITIA 

which kept up a disturbing friction and made organi- 
zation difficult. 

Connected with the intercolonial jealousies and still 
harder to deal with was the aversion to discipline and 
subordination on the part of the New England troops. 
These were composed of men accustomed to complete 
equality and individual liberty. Living isolated on 
their farms, with little distinction of wealth and none 
of social position, they had never known control or 
the habit of obedience. Their officers were chosen 
among themselves, and, while respected as leaders, 
were not regarded in any sense as superiors. They 
had little more thought of exercising authority than 
their soldiers had of acknowledging it. The dislike 
of discipline and subordination created difficulties 
enough in their own ranks, but when It met the mili- 
tary system of Schuyler, it developed into hatred of 
a supposed tyranny. Schuyler found the men crowded 
into barracks with entire disregard of sanitary pre- 
cautions, and their health becoming so bad that one- 
third were incapacitated for duty. His attempts to 
introduce reforms in this particular were sullenly re- 
sisted. At home the men were accustomed to severe 
physical labor. Since arriving at Ticonderoga they 
had done nothing but clean their guns and turn out 
for parade. They were spoiling for their accustomed 
exercise. Schuyler set them to work, partly as a 
health measure and partly to forward the boat-build- 
ing and other preparations for the expedition. This 

los 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

was regarded as a hardship, and made the subject 
of complaint. The commissary department was with- 
out regulation, the men helping themselves to what 
they wanted, and wasting ruinously. They considered 
that the provisions belonged to them and resented 
their control, especially by an officer from another 
colony. They were patriotic and brave, ready to 
fight, but wishing to do it in their own way, as par- 
tisans, not as a regular army. To introduce business 
order, to inculcate obedience on the part of officers 
and men, were tasks trying to a man of Schuyler's 
methodical habits and somewhat Imperious temper. 
The difficulty was deeply seated, as Montgomery 
found when he was making his campaign in Canada. 
" They are the worst stuff imaginable for soldiers," 
he wrote home. " They are homesick; their regi- 
ments are melted away, and yet not a man dead of any 
distemper among them. There is such an equality 
among them that the officers have no authority. 
. The privates are all generals, but not sol- 
diers." When experience in war had taught the New 
England men the necessity of unquestioning obedience, 
they made the very backbone of the American army. 
But meanwhile they were difficult to command. 

Schuyler lacked the patience and conciliatory dis- 
position which such work required. Habituated to 
order and system, he was irritated by the indifference 
to these qualities which he saw about him. Accus- 
tomed to the exercise of authority, and to the respect 

io6 



INSUBORDINATION OF MILITIA 

which a man in his position received in the province 
of New York, he could not understand the familiarity 
and independence of the New England men. He de- 
scribed the situation to Washington, who thus re- 
plied from Cambridge: " I can easily judge of your 
difficulties in introducing order and discipline into 
troops who have from their infancy imbibed ideas of 
the most contrary kind. It would be far beyond the 
compass of a letter for me to describe the situation of 
things here on my arrival. Perhaps you will only 
be able to judge of it from my assuring you that mine 
must be a portraiture at full length of what you have 
had in miniature. Confusion and discord reigned in 
every department, which, in a little time, must have 
ended either in the separation of the army or fatal 
contests with one another. . . . However, we 
mend every day, and I flatter myself that in a little 
time we shall work up these raw materials Into a good 
manufacture. I must recommend to you, what I en- 
deavor to practise myself — patience and persever- 
ance." " I can easily conceive," answered Schuyler, 
" that my difficulties are only a faint semblance of 
yours. Yes, my general, I will strive to copy your 
bright example, and patiently and steadily persevere 
In that line which alone can promise the wished-for 
reformation." 

The New England opposition to Schuyler was 
destined to bear bitter fruit for him. A strong preju- 
dice existed against him before he assumed command. 

107 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

His efforts to introduce military order into the army 
at Ticonderoga, his regulation of supplies, his sani- 
tary measures, his requirement of labor on the part 
of the soldiers, induced a feeling of animosity which 
took form in suspicions of his loyalty to the patriot 
cause. The situation is described in a curious con- 
temporary letter written from the camp in July, 1775. 
Accompanying Colonel Hinman's regiment, as chap- 
lain, was the Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, of Sharon, 
well known through western Connecticut as " Parson 
Smith." He wrote to his wife: " You wish to know 
if the rumors about General Schuyler are true, If he 
is secretly a Tory? Saying that you are requested to 
ask me. My dear wife, they are not true. Say this 
(to any who ask you) on my authority, for I speak 
whereof I do know. Gen'l Schuyler is as earnest a 
patriot as any in our land, and he has few superiors in 
any respect. I do grieve that so many of our New 
England men should so fail to do him justice. Yet 
are they not quite without excuse, not for their sus- 
picions, but for their dislike. The Gen'l is somewhat 
haughty and overbearing. He has never been accus- 
tomed to seeing men that are reasonably well taught, 
and able to give a clear opinion, and to state their 
grounds for it, who were not also persons of some 

wealth and rank; and when our blacksmith C ■ 

came up to the Gen'l without any preliminaries to 
offer him some information and advice, but withal 
not disrespectfully, the Gen'l, albeit the Information 

108 



INTERCOLONIAL JEALOUSY 

was of importance and should have speedy attention 
— spake very sharply to the poor man and bade him 
begone. He could easily have seen that the man 
meant no harm and was far more intelligent than the 
most of his ' stupid Dutchmen ' (as I grieve to say 
that our N. E. men are too apt to call 'em) even 
when they are officers ; but it was not until I had ex- 
plained to him that the man was well descended and 
only a blacksmith by reason that his grandfather's 
English estates had been forfeited to the crown, that 
the Gen'l could be prevailed upon to listen to him. 
This is our commander's one weakness, and I would 
not have you repeat it to any one. On the other hand, 
our men are much too free with their strictures. Full 
one-third of my time is taken up in trying to make 
them see that we have no warrant for suspicions of 
him and every reason for the greatest confidence. I 
am in a position to form a good judgment, and I 
consider Gen'l Schuyler to be an honorable gentle- 
man, a man of unusual probity, an excellent com- 
manding officer, and most devoted to our cause. Tell 
all who talk to you about him just what I here do 
say, and bid 'em to pay no heed to aught the perverse 
faultfinders like E. N. and N. W. may choose to say." 
Another contemporary letter, which throws much 
light on this subject so near to Schuyler, was written 
by James Lockwood to Silas Deane, from Fort 
George, in October, 1775, when the troops were on 
their way to Canada under Montgomery: "I am 

109 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

not unacquainted how apt soldiers are to report 
groundless Ill-natured stories about officers, neither 
do I believe one-fiftieth part of the complaints against 
General Schuyler have any real foundation in truth. 
He has certainly had a most arduous, very disagree- 
able piece of business of It, and has done perhaps as 
much, If not more, than any other man could do; yet 
thus It is, neither the officers nor the soldiers of the 
army love him, and Montgomery, who has been the 
darling of the army, they now complain much of. 
In short, sir, it certainly ever was and ever 
will be of the greatest Importance that every general 
officer Is well acquainted with the genius, temper, and 
dispositions of the people that compose his army. 
Our New England people will not at once submit to 
the usages frequently practised among regular troops. 
It Is my opinion that the greater part of the uneasi- 
ness has arisen from this quarter." 

With Schuyler at TIconderoga was Richard Mont- 
gomery, the brigadier-general appointed from New 
York, one of the heroic figures of the Revolution. He 
was born December 2, 1738, at Conway House, near 
Raphoe, in the North of Ireland, the third son of an 
Irish baronet. His eldest brother was an officer In the 
English army, the second was a merchant at Lisbon, 
and a sister was married to Lord Ranelagh. He stud- 
ied at Dublin College, and at eighteen entered the 
English army as an ensign. During the Seven Years' 
War his regiment was ordered to Hah fax, and In 1758 

no 



GENERAL MONTGOMERY 

he was with Wolfe at the capture of Louisburg, the 
French fortress which guarded the entrance to the 
St. Lawrence River. Here he was promoted to a lieu- 
tenancy. During the remainder of the war he served 
under Amherst and at its conclusion went to the West 
Indies, where, in 1762, he became captain. In 1772 
he resigned his commission and sailed from England 
for New York with the design of settling there. He 
married Janet, eldest child of Judge Robert R. Liv- 
ingston, of Clermont, and began farming at Rhine- 
beck. In 1775 he was chosen a delegate from 
Dutchess County to the first Provincial Congress. 
There he felt himself to be of little use, as he had no 
facility in public speaking. But the scanty written 
records of him show that he could express himself in 
private In language both noble and much to the point. 
On receipt of his commission he wrote : " The Con- 
gress, having done me the honor of electing me a 
brigadier-general In their service, Is an event which 
must put an end for a while, perhaps forever, to the 
quiet scheme of life I had prescribed for myself; for 
though entirely unexpected and undesired by me, the 
will of an oppressed people, compelled to choose be- 
tween liberty and slavery, must be obeyed." It is 
related by L. L. Hunt, in notes on Montgomery, that, 
" he came Into his wife's room and asked her to make 
up for him the ribbon cockade which was to be placed 
on his hat. He saw her emotion and marked the 
starting tear. With persuasive gentleness, he said 

III 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

to her: Our country is in danger. Unsolicited in two 
instances, I have been distinguished by two honorable 
appointments. As a politician I could not serve them. 
As a soldier, I think I can. Shall I then accept the 
one and shrink from the other in dread of danger? 
My honor is engaged." On his departure for the 
army. Judge Livingston said to him: " Take care of 
your life." To which he replied, " Of my honor, you 
would say, sir." To his wife, his last words were, 
" You shall never blush for your Montgomery." 

By the middle of August, Schuyler had made great 
progress with the preparations for the expedition. 
Enough boats had been built to convey the troops 
down the lake and sufficient ammunition and food 
were at hand for immediate needs. Meanwhile great 
alarm was felt at Albany concerning the hostile atti- 
tude of the Indians in the Mohawk Valley, and 
Schuyler went south to attend a council with the 
savages. Before he could finish this business he re- 
ceived news from Montgomery that the activity of the 
enemy at St. John's necessitated the immediate move- 
ment of the troops and that he was about to start for 
the north. 

Schuyler was ill, but he made his way back to Ticon- 
deroga as fast as he could; and notwithstanding in- 
creasing illness, embarked In a small boat on which a 
bed was improvised and had himself taken to the Isle 
aux Noix, twelve miles south of St. John's, where, in 
a condition of great weakness, he joined Montgomery 

112 



SCHUYLER'S ILLNESS 

on the 5th of September. " Poor Schuyler," Mont- 
gomery wrote to his wife, " is in so miserable a state 
of health as to make him an object of compassion." 
Schuyler wrote and forwarded into Canada an address 
to the population intended to win their adhesion to 
the American cause, and considered with Montgomery 
the plans of the coming campaign; but his illness in- 
creased in the swampy country where the army was 
encamped, he felt himself to be useless and unable to 
endure the hardships of the campaign and returned to 
Ticonderoga on the i8th. On the 20th he wrote to 
Washington : " I find myself much better as the fever 
has left me, and hope soon to return where I ought 
and wish to be, unless a barbarous relapse should 
dash the cup of hope from my lips." But the com- 
bination of gout and bilious fever from which he suf- 
fered was not to leave him. The 25th of September 
he wrote to the Continental Congress : "The vexation 
of spirit under which I labor that a barbarous com- 
plication of disorders should prevent me from reaping 
those laurels for which I have so unweariedly wrought, 
since I was honored with this command, the anxiety 
of mind I have suffered since my arrival here lest the 
army should starve, occasioned by a scandalous want 
of subordination and inattention to my orders, in some 
of the officers that I left to command at the different 
posts; the vast variety of disagreeable and vexatious 
incidents that almost every hour arise in some depart- 
ment or other, not only retard my cure, but have put 

113 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

me considerably back for some days past. If Job had 
been a general in my situation, his memory had not 
been so famous for patience. But the glorious end 
which we have In view, and which I have a confident 
hope will be attained, will atone for all." To the 
Provincial Congress, he wrote in October: " My dis- 
orders have taken such deep root, that I now begin 
to have little hope of recovery so as to take an active 
part in the future operations of the campaign. I hope, 
however, that I shall not be obliged to leave this 
place, unhealthy and unfavorable to my recovery as 
it is, lest it should involve General Montgomery in 
Irremediable inconveniences." 

Notwithstanding his illness, Schuyler carried on all 
the business of collecting and forwarding supplies to 
the army In Canada. Montgomery wrote to his wife : 
" General Schuyler's return to TIconderoga has been 
a most fortunate affair. We should most certainly 
have been obliged to return half starved, and to leave 
the unfortunate Canadians to take care of them- 
selves." " Your residence at TIconderoga," he wrote 
to Schuyler from St. John's, " has probably enabled 
us to keep our ground. How much do the public owe 
you for your attention and activity." 

The invasion of Canada at this early period of the 
struggle was an illustration of the aggressive deter- 
mination of the patriot party. Not content with re- 
sisting the armed attacks of the ministry, not content 
with the great fight which Washington was waging 

114 



MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION 

against the British army at Boston, the patriots under- 
took to carry the war into Africa and to wrest from 
England possessions which were not involved in the 
quarrel. It was an act of defiance, which emphasized 
the warlike feeling of the colonies and showed the 
mother country that a defensive war was not all she 
had to face. Moreover, an invasion of Canada seemed 
to be the best preventive of an invasion from Canada. 
For such reasons the expedition was well judged. 
But with the small force at the disposal of the colonies, 
with the extreme difficulty of obtaining and forward- 
ing military supplies, success was hardly possible. 

Montgomery started at the end of August, and 
reached St. John's, the fort which protected Montreal 
on the south, in the middle of September. A siege of 
fifty days ensued, the garrison surrendering November 
3d. The long delay incurred at St. John's was very 
injurious to the prospects of the expedition, for win- 
ter, with its hardships, was brought so much the 
nearer. On the 1 2th, Montreal was taken, and Mont- 
gomery proclaimed the jurisdiction of the Continental 
Congress, to which he urged the inhabitants to send 
delegates. Although successful so far, the most diffi- 
cult task, the capture of Quebec, yet lay before him. 
At about the same time that he had left Ticonderoga, 
Washington had sent Benedict Arnold with a detach- 
ment from his own army at Cambridge with orders 
to reach Quebec by way of the Merrimac River. 
Through great labor and suffering, which reduced his 

us 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

command by one half, Arnold had surmounted every 
obstacle. Through an intercepted letter, Montgom- 
ery learned that Arnold was before Quebec, and that 
" the King's friends " there expected to be besieged, 
" which," said the gallant general, " with the bless- 
ing of God, they shall be, if the severe season holds 
off and I can prevail on the troops to accompany me." 
This last proviso indicated an impediment to Mont- 
gomery's success which so far had seemed to him 
more serious than any enemy. Among a considerable 
portion of his little army there existed a spirit of in- 
subordination which frustrated his plans and de- 
pressed his spirit. The example was set by officers. 
Captain Baker, a leader of the Green Mountain Boys, 
contrary to express orders, went up into Canada with 
five companions to see what he could do on his own 
account. Meeting with a party of Indians in a canoe, 
he wantonly fired upon them, killing two. He got a 
bullet through his own head, which was well deserved, 
but the surviving savages paddled off with their tale 
of injury, and did much to frustrate the efforts of 
Schuyler and Montgomery to keep the Indians neu- 
tral. Ethan Allen, " the hero of Ticonderoga," was 
proceeding at the head of his company to join Mont- 
gomery at the siege of St. John's. On the way it 
occurred to him that he might steal a march on his 
commanding officer and win much glory for himself 
by making an Independent attack on Montreal with 

ii6 



MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION 

his own force. This he did, sacrificing his whole com- 
pany, which Montgomery much needed. He was 
himself taken prisoner, put into irons as a sort of 
pirate, and complained loudly of a punishment which 
was due entirely to his own folly and disobedience. In 
Montgomery's own camp there was a set of officers, 
some from New England, some from New York, who 
were constantly telling the general what they would 
do, what they would not do, and what he ought to do. 
All this was galling to the brave but not over-patient 
Montgomeiy. He was the leader of a guerrilla band, 
not the general of regular troops. 

As to the men, they were not soldiers by education 
or habit and a great many soon concluded that they 
did not want to be. They were homesick; they had 
enlisted for a few months from patriotic feeling, but 
their time was up. A considerable number refused 
to proceed after the taking of St. John's, and Mont- 
gomery had got them as far as Montreal only by 
promising to discharge them there. Now they de- 
clined to face the hardships of a winter campaign in 
Canada. Some alleged the expiration of their terms 
of enlistment, others their health, others again were 
mutinous, making their presence undesirable. Mont- 
gomery had to discharge a great many. Schuyler 
wrote to Congress of the arrival of some of these men 
at TIconderoga : " About three hundred of the 
troops raised In Connecticut passed here within a few 
days. An unhappy homesickness prevails. These all 

117 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

came down as Invalids, not one willing to re-engage 
for the winter's service; and unable to get any work 
done by them, I discharged them en groupe. Of all 
the specifics ever invented for any there is none so 
efficacious as a discharge for this prevailing disorder. 
No sooner was it administered but it perfected the 
cure of nine out of ten; who, refusing to wait for 
boats to go by way of Lake George, slung their heavy 
packs, crossed the lake at this place, and undertook a 
march of two hundred miles with the greatest good 
will and alacrity." 

When Montgomery had joined Arnold before 
Quebec their combined forces numbered but twelve 
hundred men. As General Carleton, the British com- 
mander, would not come out to fight, it was resolved 
to storm the works. On the last day of December, 
1775, at two o'clock in the morning, amidst a driving 
snow storm, Arnold and Montgomery attacked, on 
opposite sides of the town. Arnold fell badly wound- 
ed; Montgomery dead, struck by three bullets, 
when near his goal. His body was found at daybreak 
by a detachment sent out by Carleton, who had been 
his fellow officer In Wolfe's army. It lay between 
the bodies of his two faithful aides, MacPherson and 
Cheeseman, nearly hidden by the drifting snow, and 
was given a soldier's grave within the wall. Forty- 
three years later, In July, 18 18, his wife stood alone 
on the piazza of her house at Rhinebeck, while below, 
on the waters of the Hudson, paused for a while the 

118 



DEATH OF MONTGOMERY 

barge which bore the remains of Montgomery from 
the heights of Quebec to their final resting place at 
St. Paul's Church in New York. The monument 
visible from the street by the thousands who daily 
pass before it, was designed by the French sculptor, 
Caffieres, at the order of Congress, and bears an in- 
scription composed by Benjamin Franklin. 

The early successes of Montgomery and all that 
was known of him had created a strong feeling in his 
favor throughout the country. Proportionately great 
was the mourning when the news of his death was 
received. Thomas Lynch, attending Congress in 
Philadelphia, v.TOte to Schuyler: " Never was a city 
so universally struck with grief as this was on hearing 
of the loss of Montgomery. Every lady's eye was 
filled with tears. I happened to have company at 
dinner, but none had inclination for any other food 
but sorrow or resentment. Poor, gallant fellow ! If 
a martyr's sufferings merit a martyr's reward, his 
claim is indisputable. I am sure that from the mo- 
ment he left Ticonderoga to the moment of his re- 
lease by death, his sufferings had no interval. He 
now rests from his labor, and his works can't but fol- 
low him." 

The blow to Schuyler was a severe and personal 
one. Between the two generals there had never been 
a misunderstanding nor any feeling but perfect confi- 
dence and regard. In his last letter to Montgomery, 
Schuyler had said: " Adieu, my dear sir; may I have 

119 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

the pleasure soon to announce another of your victor- 
ies, and afterwards that of embracing you." It was 
but a few days later when he was obliged to write to 
Washington : " I wish I had no occasion to send my 
dear general the enclosed melancholy accounts. My 
amiable friend, the gallant Montgomery, is no more I 
The brave Arnold is wounded, and we have met with 
a very severe check in an unsuccessful attempt on 
Quebec. May Heaven be graciously pleased to ter- 
minate the misfortune here. I tremble for our people 
in Canada." 

When the news of the death of Montgomery 
reached London, the opposition seized the occasion 
to sound his praises and to reprove the ministry. 
Chatham and Burke spoke feelingly, and Colonel 
Barre, a companion of Montgomery's in the French 
War, was deeply moved as he dwelt on the fine quali- 
ties of the dead. But Lord North declared : " I can- 
not join in lamenting the death of Montgomery as a 
public loss. He was undoubtedly brave, humane, and 
generous; but still he was only a brave, humane, and 
generous rebel. Curse on his virtues, they've undone 
his country." To which Fox pointedly replied : " The 
term rebel is no certain mark of disgrace. All the 
great assertors of liberty, the saviors of their coun- 
try, the benefactors of mankind in all ages, have been 
called rebels. We owe the constitution which enables 
us to sit in this house to a rebellion." 

During the progress of the expedition into Canada, 



MONTGOMERY'S DIFFICULTIES 

Montgomery had written to Schuyler several times 
regarding the insubordination of his troops and his 
desire to resign. On the 13th of October, at St. 
John's, he said: " When I mentioned my intentions 
regarding the campaign, I did not consider that I was 
at the head of troops who carry the spirit of freedom 
into the field and think for themselves. Upon con- 
sidering the fatal consequences which might flow 
from the want of subordination and discipline, should 
this ill humor continue, my unstable authority over 
troops of different colonies, the insufficiency of the 
military law, and my own want of powers to enforce 
it, weak as it is, I thought it expedient to call the 
field officers together. Enclosed I send you the result 
of our deliberations, which has deprived me of all 
hope of success." Again on the 3 ist of October : " I 
am exceedingly well pleased to see General Wooster 
here, both for the advantage of the service and upon 
my own account. For I must earnestly request to be 
suffered to retire, should matters stand on such a foot- 
ing this winter as to permit me to go off with honor. 
I have not talents nor temper for such a command. I 
am under the disagreeable necessity of acting eternally 
out of character, to wheedle, flatter, and he. I stand 
in a constrained attitude. I will bear with it for a 
short time, but I cannot support it long." And on 
November 24th: " An affair happened here yester- 
day which had very near sent me home. A number 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

of officers presumed to remonstrate against the indul- 
gence I had given some of the officers of the King's 
troops. Such an insult I could not bear, and imme- 
diately resigned. However, they have to-day quali- 
fied it by such an apology as puts it in my power to 
resume the command with some propriety, and I have 
promised to bury it in oblivion. Captain Lamb, who 
is a restless genius and of a bad temper, was at the 
head of it. He has been used to haranguing his fel- 
low-citizens in York, and cannot restrain his talents 
here. He is brave, active, and intelligent, but very 
turbulent and troublesome, and not to be satisfied." 
Schuyler informed Congress of Montgomery's in- 
tentions, adding: " My sentiments exactly coincide 
with his. I shall, with him, do everything in my 
power to put a finishing stroke to the campaign. This 
done I must beg leave to retire." Washington had 
the same difficulties to contend with which beset Mont- 
gomery and Schuyler. His correspondence during 
this year affords ample evidence that a spirit of dis- 
order and unmilitary independence pervaded the camp 
about Boston as well the army in New York. He 
wrote to that effect to Schuyler urging him to bear 
with everything for the sake of the cause. Schuyler 
agreed that such was the patriotic course, which he 
would wish to follow, but he added, " I think that I 
should prejudice my country by continuing any longer 
in this command. The favorable opinion you are 

122 



INTERCOLONIAL JEALOUSY 

pleased to entertain of me, obliges me to an explana- 
tion which I shall give you in confidence. I have al- 
ready informed you of the disagreeable situation I 
have been in during the campaign, but I would waive 
that, were it not that it has arisen chiefly from preju- 
dice and jealousy. For I could point out particular 
persons of rank in the army who have frequently de- 
clared that the general commanding In this quarter 
ought to be of the colony whence the majority of the 
troops come. But it is not from the opinion or prin- 
ciples of Individuals that I have drawn the following 
conclusion : That troops from the Colony of Con- 
necticut will not hear with a general from another 
colony. It is from the daily and common conversation 
of all ranks of people from that colony, both In and 
out of the army; and I assure you, that I sincerely 
lament that a people of so much public virtue should 
be actuated by such an unbecoming jealousy, founded 
on such a narrow principle — a principle extremely un- 
friendly to our righteous cause — as it tends to alienate 
the affections of numbers in this colony, In spite of the 
most favorable constructions that prudent men and 
real Americans among us attempt to put upon It. And 
although I frankly avow that I feel a resentment, yet 
I shall continue to sacrifice it to a nobler object — the 
welfare of that country in which I have drawn the 
breath of life." 

During the winter of 1775-76, much of Schuyler's 
123 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

attention was occupied by the attitude of the John- 
son family, their Scotch dependents and the Indian 
tribes In the Mohawk Valley. DIsaffectlons and hos- 
tility there were extremely dangerous. When the city 
of New York and the lower Hudson fell Into the pos- 
session of the British, the State of New York, for all 
purposes of the war, consisted only of the upper Hud- 
son and the Mohawk valleys. 

The remarkable life of Sir William Johnson was 
suddenly terminated at Johnson Hall in July, 1774, 
by an attack of apoplexy, probably brought on by 
anxiety over the political situation. His title, his 
wealth, his office of Indian agent were derived from 
the Crown. The principles at Issue between the colo- 
nies and the ministry Interested him little In the Isola- 
tion of his forest domain. His death occurred before 
he was obliged to declare for either side; but the 
inchnatlon of his sympathy was shown by the attitude 
of his successors. His son John inherited the baron- 
etcy and Johnson Hall. His nephew and son-in-law 
Guy became Indian agent, and lived at his place, 
called Guy Park, on the Mohawk River, a mile from 
the present village of Amsterdam. Both the John- 
sons assumed a menacing attitude. Sir John fortified 
Johnson Hall, organized the Tryon County militia, 
and assumed its command. Guy held secret confer- 
ences with the Indians at Guy Park. After the news 
of Lexington and Concord had arrived, he became 
alarmed at the aspect of affairs, went up the Mohawk 

124 



CONCILIATION OF INDIANS 

Valley with his family to Fort Stanwix, and then pro- 
ceeded westward into the wilderness, stopping at all 
the Indian encampments and urging the chiefs to take 
sides with the British. 

The Continental Congress, realizing the impor- 
tance of keeping the Indians neutral, appointed a 
commission to meet them, consisting of Philip Schuy- 
ler, Joseph Hawley, Turbutt Francis, Oliver Wol- 
cott, and Volckert P. Douw. They held a council 
in the summer, taking the ground: "This is a fam- 
ily quarrel between us and Old England. You 
Indians are not concerned in it. We do not wish 
you to take up the hatchet against the King's 
troops. We desire you to remain at home, and not 
join on either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep." 
In September, 1775, another council was held at 
Albany, which terminated peacefully and calmed the 
fears of immediate danger from the Indians. It was 
the last Indian council ever held in Albany, and 
Schuyler presided over it until called away by the 
departure of Montgomery's army. 

During the early winter the Tories in Tryon Coun- 
ty continued their hostile attitude and numerous acts 
of violence against the Whigs were committed by 
them. When the first Liberty pole was set up in 
the Mohawk Valley, the sheriff, named White, led a 
band of loyalists who cut It down ; and White carried 
his aggressions so far that the Whigs organized 
against him and drove him av/ay. He sought safety 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

in Canada, was captured on the upper Hudson and 
sent by Schuyler as a prisoner to Albany. The Tryon 
County patriot committee, of which the famous 
Nicholas Herkimer was chairman, kept a watch over 
Sir John Johnson, but took no active measures 
against him as he committed no overt act. 

Early in January, 1776, Schuyler decided that a 
blow must be struck at the Tories in Tryon County 
which would discourage the disaffection there. News 
was brought to him at Ticonderoga that Sir John had 
seven hundred armed Tories in the neighborhood of 
Johnson Hall. Schuyler collected several hundred 
men in Albany, and on the i6th of January mached 
through the valley, collecting Whigs as he went, until 
he had about three thousand men. He met Sir John 
at Guy Park, where the baronet had repaired in com- 
pany with some chiefs of his Scotch Highlanders and 
Indians to show the support which he had at his back. 
Schuyler demanded Sir John's parole not to act in- 
imically to the patriot cause, the surrender of all arms 
and ammunitions in the possession of the Tories and 
Indians at Johnson Hall, and the cessation of hostile 
acts against the Whigs. Johnson asked for a delay 
of a day in sending his reply. Schuyler assented, but 
meanwhile moved on to Johnstown. There Sir John 
referred to his influence over the Indians and sug- 
gested terms of his own. " I have given Sir John," 
replied Schuyler, " until twelve o'clock to-day to con- 
sider my terms, after which, if he shall not comply, 

126 



THE JOHNSONS AND TORIES 

I shall take such measures as will make him, and who- 
ever assists him, feel the power in my hands." John- 
son yielded at the appointed time, gave his parole to 
commit no hostile act and not to go westward of the 
German Flatts. The arms and ammunition were given 
up, three hundred Scotch Highlanders laying down 
their arms in the street of Johnstown. Schuyler re- 
turned to Albany with two cannon, several swivels, a 
quantity of guns and ammunition, six chiefs of the 
Highlanders, and a hundred Tory prisoners whom he 
held as hostages. Washington was much pleased by 
this action and Congress voted that Schuyler had per- 
formed " a meritorious service." 

In the early spring, however, rumors arrived that 
Johnson was again inciting the Indians to war, and 
Schuyler summoned him to Albany. There he pro- 
tested that he would observe his parole, and, there 
being no definite proofs against him, he was allowed 
to return. At the same time Schuyler sent Samuel 
Kirkland, the missionary, and James Deane, the inter- 
preter, among the Indians to conciliate them and to 
spread the news of Washington's victory over the 
British at Boston. Their mission seemed to be suc- 
cessful, but in May it became evident to Schuyler that 
Johnson was not true to his word. He sent Colonel 
Dayton with three hundred picked men under a pre- 
text to Johnstown. At the first opportunity they were 
to arrest Sir John and carry him with all his papers 
to Albany. But Tory friends warned the Baronet. 

127 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

When Dayton arrived, he had fled with some com- 
panions Into the forest, and Lady Johnson observed 
defiantly that his enemies would soon know where he 
was. He made his way with great difficulty and 
suffering through the Adirondacks to the St. Lawrence 
River and Montreal. There he was commissioned a 
Colonel in the British army, and raised among his 
royalist followers a regiment of about a thousand 
men, which, under the name of the Royal Greens, was 
afterwards to carry fire and sword along the frontiers 
of New York. Schuyler, since boyhood, had had 
social relations with the Johnsons, father and son. 
He considered Sir John as a gentleman who would 
observe his parole, and before the occasion arose for 
sending the Dayton expedition there were no acts 
sufficiently definite to justify arrest. But the Baronet's 
escape was made the most of by Schuyler's enemies, 
and it was freely stated in New England that his Tory 
sympathies had Induced him to connive at It. 



128 



\ 

Chapter V. 

Failure of the Expedition Against Canada. — New 

England Hostility to Schuyler. — The Efforts 

of Gates to Supplant Him. 

IN the spring of 1776, the expedition against 
Canada came to Its disastrous and Inevitable end. 
After the death of Montgomery, Arnold main- 
tained the siege of Quebec through the winter, en- 
during, with his reduced and heroic band, extreme 
sufferings from exposure and hunger. Schuyler's cor- 
respondence contains constant references to his anxiety 
concerning the expedition and his efforts to assist It, 
During the winter, communication was difficult and 
rare through the Intervening wilderness of snow- 
bound forest. In response to repeated prayers from 
Schuyler for men and money, the Congress at Phila- 
delphia could only pass resolutions: "That General 
Schuyler be directed to take any further measures for 
supplying the army In Canada with provisions which 
his prudence may suggest, In which Congress placed 
the highest confidence;" and again, "That General 
Schuyler be desired to take care that the army In 
Canada be regularly and effectually supplied with 
necessaries." Such were the barren replies to his 

129 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

urgent requests at the time that he was writing to 
Washington: "Our mihtary chest is exhausted and 
we are deeply involved in debt. Ten thousand pounds 
will hardly pay what I am personally bound for on 
the public account." To forward supplies to Quebec 
during the winter was a physical impossibility. Money 
was what Arnold wanted, that he might purchase 
necessaries where he was. Congress failed to furnish 
it, and Schuyler sent his own to the full extent of his 
resources. He realized more than any one what must 
be the wants and privations of the army, and suffered 
acutely from his inability to afford sufficient relief. 
In April, Arnold was succeeded in command by 
Wooster. He and Schuyler, between whom the New 
York and New England prejudices had caused a 
breach, were not then on good terms. But Schuyler 
wrote him : "Whatever my sentiments are with re- 
gard to our private disputes, I assure you that I very 
sincerely pity your situation." 

At last the fresh troops and the money which 
Schuyler had long and urgently begged from Congress 
began to arrive in the north and were forwarded by 
him to Canada. They reached Quebec in May. But 
It was in vain. Fleets had arrived from England with 
an army of thirteen thousand men. General Carleton 
found himself at the head of an overwhelming force, 
and there was nothing left for the Americans but 
retreat. This was conducted with great skill by Gen- 
eral Sullivan, and the army might have been brought 

130 



THE RETREAT FROM CANADA 

home with small loss. But camp sickness attacked the 
troops with great virulence, and was soon followed by 
an outbreak of smallpox. By the time the army 
reached Crown Point in June many had died of dis- 
ease, and half of the remainder were ill. The camp 
was a hospital, in which the able bodied were all 
needed to care for their unfortunate companions. 

The failure of the expedition against Canada was 
due to the simple cause that the invaders were inferior 
in strength to the British. Montgomery, Arnold, 
Wooster, Sullivan and their troops had shown the 
greatest intrepidity and endurance. But the storming 
party which attacked the great fortress of Quebec on 
that winter night in 1775 was quite inadequate in 
numbers for such an enterprise. The small force of 
men which held General Carleton and his garrison as 
prisoners within their walls throughout the winter 
accomplished a great feat in doing so much. The 
American re-enforcements sent in May were outnum- 
bered two to one by the new troops received by the 
enemy. The colonies were as yet too little united and 
organized to conduct effectively an aggressive foreign 
campaign. Men and money could be raised to repel 
invasion, but not to carry on war outside the country. 

These circumstances were not understood at the 
time, and great disappointment followed the joy over 
Montgomery's early victories. The losses had fallen 
chiefly on western New England, whence had come 
most of the troops engaged. The soldiers who had 

131 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

resented Schuyler's military discipline at Ticonderoga, 
who had given Montgomery such trouble and had 
finally left him in the lurch at Montreal in the autumn 
of 1775, had returned home, justifying themselves by 
accusing their commanders of tyranny. When the 
sick arrived at their homes after the retreat in the 
spring, they had real sufferings enough to relate. But 
these were incident to a soldier's life, aggravated by 
the special difficulties of a campaign in the wilderness. 
But the prejudice already existing against Schuyler 
made it easy to fasten upon him responsibility for 
every evil. It was openly and widely stated that he 
was at heart a Tory and had neglected the expedition 
with the secret desire of seeing it fail. Of the vague 
reports which were spread to Schuyler's discredit a 
sample occurs in a letter of Walter Livingston written 
in May, 1776: "Last Saturday evening, arrived in 
town Captain Sheldon, from Salisbury, Connecticut, 
who advises that upon his return from Hartford on 
Friday evening, he found the people greatly alarmed 
by an account that a formidable conspiracy was car- 
rying on by the Tories in this quarter; upon which 
he mounted his horse and proceeded toward Albany, 
till he came into Noble Town; where it was said that 
some person In King's District had pretended that he 
could make some important discoveries of the designs 
of the Tories, if the persons to whom he com- 
municated It would Inviolably keep his name a secret, 
which was done, as Is said upon oath. Upon which 

132 



ENMITY OF NEW ENGLAND 

he told them that General Schuyler, the committee of 
Albany and many others were in the Tory interest. 
That it was in the design of the general to draw all 
the provisions out of the country, up to the lakes, and 
there to betray them into the hands of the enemy 
and that the people in that part of the 
country were greatly alarmed and had sent to Gen- 
eral Washington and Governor Trumbull to acquaint 
them of the affair." 

Meetings were held in western Massachusetts and 
Connecticut in which attacks were made upon the 
general of the northern department, and the Com- 
mittee of Berkshire forwarded to Washington definite 
accusations against him of disloyalty. The com- 
mander-in-chief forwarded the papers to Schuyler 
with the words: "From these you will readily dis- 
cover the insidious diabolical acts and schemes carry- 
ing on by the Tories and friends of Government to 
raise distrust, dissensions and divisions amongst us. 
Having the utmost confidence in your integrity, and 
the most incontestible proofs of your great attachment 
to our common country and its interests, I could not 
but look upon the charges against you with an eye 
of disbelief, and sentiments of detestation and abhor- 
rence ; nor should I have troubled you with the matter 
had I not been informed that copies were sent to 
different committees, and to Governor Trumbull, 
which I conceived would get abroad, and that you, 
should you hear of my being furnished with them, 

133 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

would consider my suppressing them as an evidence 
of my belief, or at best, my doubt of the charges." 
"While this was only report," replied Schuyler, "I 
treated It with contempt, without taking notice of it, 
but it is now become a duty I owe myself and my 
country to detect the scoundrels, and the only means 
of doing this Is by requesting that an Immediate in- 
quiry be made Into the matter, when I trust, it will 
evidently appear that it was a scheme more calculated 
to ruin me than to disunite and create jealousies in 
the friends of America. Your Excellency will, there- 
fore, please to order a court of inquiry, the soonest 
possible, for I cannot sit easy under such an Infamous 
imputation, as on this extensive continent numbers 
of the most respectable characters may not know what 
your Excellency and Congress do of my principles 
and exertions in the common cause." And to Con- 
gress he wrote: "I have requested my general for 
an inquiry to be made into my conduct. His soul is 
above the meanness of suspicion, for his feelings are 
the most delicate, and although his opinion does me 
the most ample justice, yet it is a most natural wish 
that my innocence should be made as public as the 
charge against me, which has been industriously pro- 
pagated, and ere this has probably reached every 
quarter of that country to the preservation of which 
my all is devoted." But Washington declined to 
order the court of Inquiry because, as he said, "the 
charges appeared so uncertain, vague and incredible 

134 



HIS CHARACTER ATTACKED 

that there is nothing to found proceedings on, were 
there the most distant necessity, for the scrutiny." 
But these accusations, unjustifiable as they were, 
spread far, and were very injurious to Schuyler. Even 
such a man as Robert Morris could write from Phila- 
delphia to Gates: "Is it possible that a man who 
writes so well and expresses such anxiety for the cause 
of his country as General S r does, I say is it pos- 
sible that he can be sacrificing the interest of that 
country to his ambition or avarice ? I sincerely hope 
it is not so. But such insinuations are dropped." 

Not only was Schuyler accused of neglecting the 
troops in Canada with the secret object of insuring 
their defeat, but his enemies went so far as to spread 
the calumny that he had embezzled the moneys sent 
to his care for the army. In May, Jonathan Trum- 
bull, Jr., thus referred to these accusations: "You 
have doubtless been informed of the Tory designs 
and reports spreading in the country respecting the 
combination which is said to have extended so far as 
to include many respectable characters, not excluding 
yours. I have this day heard from Connecticut, and 
am happy to find these reports have not had their 
designed effect there. If once our confidence in each 
other is destroyed, we are fatally wounded." In June, 
General Israel Putnam wrote to Schuyler: "I have 
lately received letters from several Committees in 
which they say they are now confident of your great 

13s 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

zeal and attachment to your country, and are con- 
vinced that the late reports were raised by people 
notoriously inimical to this country, and that it was 
done with a view of dividing us." It is not difficult 
to imagine the feelings of Schuyler on being the object 
of such accusations. He made many efforts to dis- 
cover the identity of his accusers, and having traced, 
as he thought, some guilt to one Mr. Blackden of 
Salisbury, Connecticut, he complained to the Com- 
mittee of that town, and received from Joshua Porter, 
its chairman, the following curious though hardly 
satisfactory answer: "If Mr. Blackden really be- 
lieves you have detained the hard money which was 
sent to you to forward to Canada, and if he has 
publicly charged you with detaining the same, in this 
case we think, as you intimate, it is his duty to support 
the charge; and if it cannot be supported, the reproach 
must recoil upon himself, or those who have led him 
to believe the calumny . . . although (as you 
confess to believe of us) we should be equally willing 
to assist in the detection of a public robber, and of 
a calumniator, yet permit us to say it would give us 
the greatest uneasiness to think, that an officer of your 
honor's rank and elevated station should lose the 
confidence of the public, who have so long relied upon 
your great abilities and inclination to serve them. 
And though surmises to the prejudice of your honor's 
character have been as common, as we hope they were 
groundless; yet we cannot cease to wish that your 

136 



INTRIGUES OF GENERAL GATES 

good services may continue to merit the just applause 
and respect of your country; as conscious rectitude 
should never be dismayed, or discouraged, with the 
poet's assertion that 

* On eagles' wings, immortal scandals fly. 
While virtuous actions are but born to die.* '* 

The difficulties in the northern department would 
have been adjusted and time would have given the 
New England men a better appreciation of Schuyler's 
character had not the selfish intrigues of General 
Gates kept up a campaign of suspicion and dislike, in 
which Gates played the same part toward Schuyler 
that Lee played toward Washington. Gates had been 
an officer in the British army during the French and 
Indian War, attaining the rank of major, and after 
that war had settled on a plantation in Virginia. In 
1775, he offered his services to Congress, and was 
appointed adjutant - general, with the rank of 
brigadier. Of small military capacity, vain and un- 
scrupulous, he had been seeking advancement in 
Philadelphia through the favor of delegates in Con- 
gress. In the displacement of Schuyler he saw a 
chance to obtain an independent command in the 
north; and he was untiring in his efforts to convince 
Congress that a change should be made there. The 
objection of the New England men to serve under a 
Dutch general from New York, and the unpopularity 
among them of Schuyler's military discipHne had been 

137 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

known to the New England delegates in Congress. 
They were active and powerful at Philadelphia, and 
their chief, John Adams, was chairman of the board 
of war and in a position to carry out their designs. 
That they should have wished for a change of com- 
manders in the northern department is not to be placed 
to their discredit. It was a question of judgment. 
But that they should have chosen Gates as their 
candidate and should have allowed themselves to 
become the tools of his intrigue, was a mistake which 
time was to disclose very fully. 

Schuyler stood too high and his influence in the 
province of New York was too great for an imme- 
diate or complete displacement. If a new commander 
of the northern department were needed, the recom- 
mendation of Washington would naturally have been 
sought. But his known regard for Schuyler made 
it necessary to act in another way. Without consult- 
ing the Commander-in-Chief, the New England 
delegates procured the appointment of Gates as a 
major-general, and a little later his nomination as 
commander of the army "in Canada." This was to 
be the entering wedge which would lead to the higher 
and coveted command. 

At this time Sullivan was at the head of the 
Canadian army, the retreat of which he had con- 
ducted with great credit. He did not deserve to be 
superseded; and when he heard that Gates, who had 

138 



INTRIGUES OF GENERAL GATES 

hitherto been a brigadier-general, was placed in com- 
mand over him, he justly considered it an aspersion 
on his conduct. "I should not have the least objec- 
tion," he wrote to Schuyler, "to being commanded by 
General Gates — I have no personal objection to him 
— and would willingly have served under him had he 
in the first instance held a commission superior to 
the one Congress was pleased to honor me with. But 
this not being the case, and the procedure so strong 
an implication against my conduct, I must beg leave 
to quit this department with my family and baggage, 
as I cannot with honor act in future, and shall, as 
soon as possible, repair to Congress and petition for 
leave to resign my commission." When Sullivan took 
formal leave of his officers they presented him with 
an address expressive of their admiration for his 
services, to which were attached the valued names 
of Hazen, Stark, Poor, Antill and St. Clair. Thus 
the party in Congress opposed to Schuyler began their 
campaign against him by the injury of a deserving 
officer who had nothing to do with the quarrel. 

On the 25th of June, Schuyler heard of the appoint- 
ment of Gates to the command of the army in Canada 
and, unsuspicious of the intrigue which was proceed- 
ing, wrote him cordially to hasten up to Albany, 
"that we may advise together on the most eligible 
methods to be pursued to prevent an increase of our 
misfortunes in this unlucky quarter. Be so good as 
to take a bed with me, that whilst you remain here 

139 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

we may be together as much as possible." Gates 
arrived, much pleased with his instructions, which 
gave him full and independent powers, but all quali- 
fied by the words which limited their operation to 
the army "in Canada." He was much crestfallen, 
therefore, when, at Albany, he found that his army 
was no longer "in Canada," but in New York and 
consequently under the command of Schuyler. 

Mindful, however, of the party in Congress at his 
back, he soon recovered his equanimity and proceeded 
to assert himself. Among other proceedings, he intro- 
duced to Schuyler a Mr. Avery, of Massachusetts; 
and Avery immediately made a formal demand upon 
Schuyler for money to conduct the commissary-gen- 
eral's department in Albany. Schuyler, much sur- 
prised, informed him that Walter Livingston was 
commissary of the northern department, and that, 
while in Albany, Avery must consider himself subor- 
dinate to Livingston. The latter's "great family 
connections in this country," added Schuyler, "have 
enabled him to carry on the service when others could 
not." And of this he gave instances. Gates could find 
no reply to make and left the room with Avery. But 
hardly outside he declared to Avery that as soon as 
they reached the army he would make him commis- 
sary. This remark was overheard and repeated to 
Schuyler, who saw that an issue was made which 
should be settled at once. For Gates to make such 
an appointment was to declare himself independent 

140 



INTRIGUES OF GENERAL GATES 

of Schuyler in New York. Schuyler recalled Gates, 
and the whole matter of the latter's powers was 
gone over between them. Schuyler made a complete 
statement of the Issue in a letter to Washington, 
which, being shown to Gates, was accepted by him 
as accurate. "If Congress," wrote Schuyler, "intended 
that General Gates should command the northern 
army, wherever it may be, as he assures me they did, 
it ought to have been signified to me, and I should 
then have immediately resigned the command to him; 
but until such intention is properly conveyed to me, I 
never can. I must therefore entreat your Excellency 
to lay this letter before Congress, that they may 
clearly and explicitly signify their intentions, to avert 
the dangers and evils that may arise from a disputed 
command; for after what General Gates has said, the 
line must be clearly drawn." When this letter was 
received from Washington by Congress, that body 
speedily declared "that Major-General Gates be in- 
formed that it was the intention of Congress to give 
him the command of the troops while in Canada, but 
that they had no design to invest him with a command 
superior to General Schuyler while the troops should 
be on this side of Canada." 

This decision and the apparent acquiescence in It 
by Gates set at rest the suspicions of Schuyler, and he 
wrote to the President of Congress on the 17th of 
July: "When gentlemen act with candor to each 
other, a difference In opinion will seldom be attended 

141 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

with any disagreeable consequences. I am happy, sir, 
that I can assure you that the most perfect good 
understanding exists between General Gates and me. 
Insomuch that it gives him pain that I was under the 
necessity of quitting the army to repair here at this 
critical juncture. You will please to assure Congress 
that I am deeply Impressed with the necessity of 
mutual confidence among all its officers, and that I 
shall never neglect any measure that may have a 
tendency to so desirable an end. I have seen, with 
the deepest affliction, the unhappy jealousy which 
reigned in the Northern Army occasioned by colonial 
distinctions both Injurious to the cause of America 
and disgraceful to the authors of them." And to 
Washington he wrote: "It gives me a very sincere 
and a heartfelt pleasure that I can declare that differ- 
ence in opinion between General Gates and me has 
been simply such, unattended with that little jealousy 
which would have reflected disgrace upon both. Be 
assured, sir, that the most perfect harmony subsists 
between us, and that I shall, by every attention to 
General Gates, strictly cultivate It, as well to increase 
my own felicity as to promote the public service." 

How different was the attitude of Gates is shown 
by his correspondence, which discloses a definite 
scheme to supplant his superior officer. And the 
party which he had formed on his behalf continued 
their campaign of misrepresentation and abuse. Gov- 
ernor Trumbull of Connecticut, writing to Williams, 

142 



GATES AND SCHUYLER 

said; "It is justly to be expected that General Gates 
19 discontented with his situation, finding himself 
limited and removed from the command, to be a 
wretched spectator of the ruin of the army, without 
power of attempting to save them." And the Gov- 
ernor's son Joseph wrote to Gates: "I find you are 
in a cursed situation; your authority at an end; and 
commanded by a person who will be willing to have 
you knocked in the head, as General Montgomery 
was, if he can have the money chest in his power." 
Elbridge Gerry, of the New England delegation in 
Congress, wrote him: "We want very much to see 
you with the sole command of the northern depart- 
ment, but hope you will not relinquish your exertions 
until a favorable opportunity shall effect It." Some 
members of Congress, knowing what was going on, 
tried to dissuade Gates from his course. Among these 
were Charles Carroll and Samuel Chase, both of 
whom had visited the northern department in the 
spring, and as Commissioners of Congress had ex- 
amined personally into all its affairs. Carroll wrote 
to Gates urging him to put away his prejudice against 
Schuyler, as he knew him to be "an active and deserv- 
ing officer;" and Chase recommended him to place 
"the most unreserved and unlimited confidence In 
Schuyler." The latter was still In Ignorance of Gates's 
character and wrote to him In August: "I find the 
jealousies with respect to me have not yet subsided 
in the country. I am informed that some committees 

143 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

at the eastward, in this and the adjacent States, are 
trying me. I wish Congress may at last comply with 
my entreaties, and order an inquiry on the many 
charges made against me, that I may not any longer 
be insulted. I assure you that I am sincerely tired of 
abuse, that I will let my enemies arrive at the com- 
pletion of their wishes, by retiring as soon as I shall 
have been tried, and attempt to serve my injured 
country in some other way, where envy and detraction 
have no temptation to follow me." 

In July, while the disputed question of command 
was still unsettled, Schuyler preserved a friendly rela- 
tion with Gates, and the two generals journeyed 
northward together to visit the army just returning 
from Canada. John Trumbull, afterwards the dis- 
tinguished artist, was an officer in the suite of Gates, 
and has left a graphic account of what he saw. Gen- 
eral Gates, he says, landed at Albany in the evening, 
and "proceeded immediately to visit General Schuyler, 
whom we found with his family, just seated at supper, 
I was very much struck with the elegant style of 
everything I saw. We here learned the news of fresh 
disasters in Canada, and the next morning, accom- 
panied by General Schuyler, we departed on horse- 
back for Skeensborough. The road as far as Saratoga 
was good ; thence to Fort Edward tolerable ; but from 
that to the head of Lake Champlain, bad as possible, 
and not a bridge over any of the small streams and 

144 



THE NORTHERN ARMY 

brooks which fall into Wood Creek. From Skeens- 
borough we proceeded with all diligence by water to 
Ticonderoga, where we learned that the troops driven 
from Canada were beginning to arrive at Crown 
Point. The two generals went forward to that place 
without delay, leaving me with orders to examine the 
ground on the east side of the lake. . . . The 
next morning I went forward to Crown Point, where 
I rejoined my general, and there saw, in all its horrors, 
the calamities of unsuccessful war. 

"Early in May, re-enforcements from England had 
reached Quebec, and our troops were of course obliged 
to retire. They were constantly harassed in their retreat 
and, in addition, the smallpox, in its most virulent and 
deadly form, had made its appearance among them. 
General Thomas died of this loathsome disease at 
Chambly, and the command devolved on General 
Sullivan, who conducted this calamitous retreat in an 
admirable manner, but was driven from post to post 
until he reached St. John's, at the northern extremity 
of Lake Champlain. At that time no road existed 
on either side of the lake, and the only communication 
with Albany and the southern country was by its 
waters. General Sullivan having secured all the ves- 
sels and boats at St. John's and destroyed all which 
were not necessary for the conveyance of his troops, 
by this means effectually prevented the immediate 
advance and pursuit of the enemy. Thus the wretched 
remnant of the army reached Crown Point in safety, 

145 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

but it is difficult to conceive a state of much deeper 
misery. The boats were leaky and without awnings ; 
the sick, being laid upon their bottoms without straw, 
were soon drenched In the filthy water of that pecu- 
liarly stagnant muddy lake, exposed to the burning 
sun of the month of July, with no sustenance but 
raw salt pork, which was often rancid, and hard bis- 
cuit or unbaked flour; no drink but the vile water of 
the lake, modified perhaps, but not corrected by bad 
rum, and scarcely any medicine. 

"My first duty, upon my arrival at Crown Point, 
was to procure a return of the number and condition 
of the troops. I found them dispersed, some few In 
tents, some In sheds, and more under the shelter of 
miserable bush huts, so totally disorganized by the 
death or sickness of officers that the distinction of 
regiments and corps was in a great degree lost; so 
that I was driven to the necessity of great personal 
examination, and I can truly say that I did not look 
into a tent or hut in which I did not find either a 
dead or a dying man. I can scarcely imagine any 
more disastrous scene, except the retreat of Bonaparte 
from Moscow — that probably was the very acme of 
human misery. I found the whole number of officers 
and men to be five thousand two hundred, and the 
sick who required the attentions of a hospital were 
two thousand eight hundred, so that when they were 
sent off with the number of men necessary to row 
them to the hospital, which had been established at 

146 



CROWN POINT AND TICONDEROGA 

the south end of Lake George, a distance of fifty 
miles, there would remain but the shadow of an army. 
Crown Point was not tenable by such a wreck, and we 
were ordered to fall back upon Ticonderoga imme- 
diately." 

In face of the situation which Schuyler found at 
Crown Point, he had to consider, first of all, the 
means of caring for and saving the sick, and of pre- 
venting the spread of disease in the army already 
present and among the troops which were on their 
way to join and re-enforce that army. He called a 
council of all the higher officers, and with their ap- 
proval ordered that those ill with contagious diseases 
should be sent to Fort George, where a hospital was 
immediately established; and that the army with the 
rest of the sick should abandon Crown Point and 
take post at Ticonderoga at the head of the lake. 
Crown Point was a low and insalubrious situation 
without buildings to protect the troops either sick or 
well, and now so tainted by disease that to bring 
re-enforcements there was, in the words of Gates, only 
to add one hospital to another. It was also a place 
far inferior to Ticonderoga in strength. The latter 
fortress was on high ground with barracks, accessible 
for supplies and the strongest natural position in the 
country. The course pursued by Schuyler appeared 
then, and was proved by its results to be, the wisest 
under the circumstances. 

But some of the lesser officers at Crown Point, all 
147 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

New England men, held a council of their own in 
which they passed resolutions declaring that the aban- 
donment of the post left the lake open to the enemy, 
was dangerous to the New England colonies and 
contrary to the orders of Congress. They ignored 
entirely the infected condition of the place and the 
other reasons which had governed the decision of 
their superior officers in the previous council. This 
remonstrance was sent by its signers to officers in 
Washington's army; was by them considered without 
any hearing of the real reasons which caused the 
abandonment of Crown Point, and resulted in a vote 
of censure of that action. Washington was led by 
this one-sided presentation of the case to express his 
disapproval of the removal of the troops to Ticon- 
deroga. Schuyler was naturally indignant at this 
treatment. He, Gates, Arnold and the other general 
officers of the northern army, being on the spot and 
knowing all the facts, had agreed upon a course of 
action as in their opinion the best. Now councils of 
inferior officers were allowed to sit in judgment upon 
their superiors and to pass votes of censure upon 
them. In any regularly organized army such conduct 
would subject the offenders to court martial and pun- 
ishment. It was destructive of every notion of dis- 
cipline and order. Schuyler wrote to Congress several 
times, urgently requesting a court of inquiry into his 
own conduct. Congress not granting his request, on 
the 14th of September he sent in a formal resignation, 

148 



ASKS FOR COURT OF INQUIRY 

at the same time stating that it was not to elude any 
inquiry Congress might be pleased to make. "On the 
contrary," he said, "it is a duty I owe to myself, to my 
family and to the respectable Congress of this State, 
by whose recommendation, unsolicited by me. Con- 
gress, I believe, was induced to honor me with a 
command, that I should exculpate myself from the 
many odious charges with which the country resounds 
to my prejudice. I trust I shall be able fully to do It, 
to the confusion of my enemies and their abettors. 
But, aggrieved as I am, my countrymen will find that 
I shall not be influenced by any unbecoming resent- 
ment, but that I will steadily persevere to fulfil the 
duties of a good citizen, and try to promote the weal 
of my native country by every effort in my power." 

Schuyler's resignation and request for a court of 
inquiry were answered on the 2d of October by the 
following resolution: "That the President write to 
General Schuyler and Inform him that Congress can- 
not consent, during the present situation of their 
affairs, to accept of his resignation, but request that 
he continue the command that he now holds; that he 
be assured that the aspersions which his enemies have 
thrown out against his character have had no influence 
upon the minds of the members of this house who 
are fully satisfied of his attachment to the cause of 
freedom, and are willing to bear their testimony of 
the many services which he has rendered to his coun- 
try; and that, in order effectually to put calumny to 

149 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

silence, they will, at any early day, appoint a com- 
mittee of their own body to inquire fully into his 
conduct, which they trust will establish his reputation 
in the opinion of all good men." 

A complimentary resolution was not what Schuyler 
wanted. He felt that a court of Inquiry to review 
and pass upon his official acts was due to him after 
his own repeated requests and the publicity of the 
attacks against him. He felt the mortification of an 
honorable man accused of Ill-conduct who Is denied 
the opportunity to vindicate himself. But worse was 
to follow. The party in Congress opposed to him 
succeeded in getting a committee appointed to inves- 
tigate the affairs of the northern department, which 
was directed to confer, not with Schuyler, but with 
Gates, his inferior in command. Schuyler must in- 
deed have been possessed of more than ordinary 
patience to endure without anger treatment so un- 
precedented. "I have suffered such brutal outrage 
from Congress," he wrote to General Scott, "that 
every gentleman who has ever honored me with his 
friendship ought to blush for me if I did not resent 
it. The treatment I have experienced puts it out of 
my power to hold any office, the appointment to which 
must be made by Congress. A late Instance of their 
conduct towards me Is equally replete with brutality 
and folly; they have sent up a committee to confer 
with my inferior officer upon what Is proper to be 
done in this department, and resolved that they will 

150 



ASKS FOR COURT OF INQUIRY 

not consent to my resignation." To Robert R. Liv- 
ingston he wrote : "Will you believe that Mr. Clymer 
and Mr. Stockton were ordered to repair to Ticon- 
deroga to confer with General Gates? They arrived 
here on Friday evening, dined and supped with me 
yesterday, but have not opened their lips on any 
public business; that is to be transacted with my 
inferior officer under my very nose. A more brutal 
insult could not be offered, an insult which I will not 
bear with impunity from any body of men on earth." 

Resolved to bring about the inquiry which he de- 
sired to clear his character, Schuyler requested per- 
mission of Congress to repair to Philadelphia, and 
received from the President in November an answer 
saying: "The situation of the northern army being 
at this juncture extremely critical, and your services 
in that department of the highest use and importance, 
the Congress wish for a continuance of your influence 
and abilities on behalf of your country. They have, 
however, agreeably to your request, consented that 
you should repair to this city whenever, in your 
opinion, the service will admit of your absence." 

Earnestly as Schuyler wished to make the journey 
to Philadelphia and to set himself right there, the 
projected visit was postponed from month to month 
by public business. He wrote to Congress in Decem- 
ber: "Much as I wish to do myself the )ionor to pay 
my respects to Congress, yet so much is to be done 
here, and no other general officer in the department, 

151 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

that it would not be prudent for me to quit it in this 
conjuncture." "I am closely engaged," he wrote to 
George Clinton in January, "in preparation for the 
next campaign, and shall hope that if we can be fur- 
nished with men, cannon and ammunition, that the 
enemy will not be able to penetrate by the north." 

Washington conducting his great campaign in New 
Jersey, needed re-enforcements, and Schuyler sent 
Gates to him with a large portion of the northern 
army. Gates joined Washington in the dark days 
before the famous crossing of the Delaware. Not 
liking the outlook, inconsiderate of the great com- 
mander who then needed the assistance of every man 
in his little army, he got permission to repair to 
Philadelphia. Washington's army, with the regi- 
ments Gates had brought from Ticonderoga, endured 
the hardships and reaped the laurels of Trenton and 
Princeton. But Gates meanwhile was pursuing a cam- 
paign of another sort amidst the ease and comfort of 
Philadelphia. February and March were spent in 
strengthening his position with the New England 
delegation, in working upon their prejudice against 
Schuyler, in ingratiating himself with whomsoever 
might prove useful. He had been in command at 
Ticonderoga at the time of Arnold's gallant fight 
against Carleton on the lakes, which so intimidated 
the British commander that he had retired without 
attacking the fort. The merit which belonged to 
Arnold, Gates boastfully claimed for himself. When 

152 



SCHEME TO DISPLACE HIM 

Congress earnestly requested him to resume the office 
of adjutant-general in the newly organized army, he 
replied with scorn and not without Insolence to Presi- 
dent Hancock: "I had last year the honor to com- 
mand In the second post in America, and had the good 
fortune to prevent the enemy from making their so 
much wished for junction with General Howe. After 
this, to be expected to dwindle again to the adjutant- 
general requires more philosophy on my part and 
something more than words on yours." 

With the assistance of the active New England 
delegation, which controlled the Board of War, Gates 
made a strong party determined to procure his ap- 
pointment to independent command In the northern 
department. The difficulty was to set aside General 
Schuyler. They had already done all they could to 
make his post unpleasant, and had succeeded in dis- 
gusting him with public employment. But they were 
only a party. The Congress as a whole had always 
sustained Schuyler when a clear issue was brought 
before it. He had offered to resign In the autumn of 
1775, and had been requested urgently not to do so. 
It was but a few months ago that his written resigna- 
tion was in the hands of Congress who had refused 
to accept it with assurances of respect and apprecia- 
tion. Something must be done to make him resign 
again, and this time the resignation must be accepted. 
The occasion for a concerted attack was found in a 
letter written to Congress by Schuyler on the 4th of 

153 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

February. At the time of its reception it attracted 
no notice; but on the 15th of March it was brought 
before Congress as important business, and the Gates 
party was present in force to obtain the desired action 
upon it. Schuyler's letter had been on general subjects 
concerning his department, but it referred also to two 
special matters: the dismissal of a medical director in 
the northern department, and the conduct of Joseph 
Trumbull of Connecticut, a Commissary-General, 
toward himself. 

When Schuyler first took command at Ticonderoga 
there was a great deal of sickness among the men, 
and no provision for physicians or medicines. At his 
request, Dr. Samuel Stringer of Albany volunteered 
for the service and supplied a quantity of medicines 
at his own risk. His patriotic services were beyond 
question. Schuyler secured his reimbursement for 
his outlay and caused his appointment as medical 
director. Stringer continued to render faithful service 
and was particularly valuable among the sick at 
Crown Point and Fort George after the disastrous 
return from Canada. Schuyler had seen his work and 
believed that he deserved every recognition that his 
country could bestow. He was, therefore, much sur- 
prised and annoyed when a notice of dismissal from 
his post, without any given reasons, was received from 
Philadelphia by Dr. Stringer. The physician ap- 
pealed to him In vain. Who procured the dismissal 
and the grounds for It do not appear. Schuyler felt 

154 



SCHEME TO DISPLACE HIM 

sincere sympathy for the man who seemed to be 
treated with undeserved harshness; and under the 
circumstances his reference to this matter in the letter 
to Congress does not seem very reprehensible. His 
words were: "As Dr. Stringer had my recommenda- 
tion to the office he has sustained, perhaps it was a 
compliment due to me that I should have been advised 
of the reasons for his dismissal." 

The second sentence in the letter which seemed to 
the Gates party so offensive related to a New England 
man, Colonel John Trumbull, whose description of 
the camp at Crown Point has been quoted. He was 
on the best terms with Schuyler, and Schuyler had the 
kindliest feelings toward him. But his brother 
Joseph, Commissary-General, was an outspoken and 
well-known enemy. The enmity could be borne, but 
lately it had taken a form particularly galling to a 
man of Schuyler's sense of honor. On the first of 
January he had written to Congress : "Last evening 
I was informed that amongst the letters lately inter- 
cepted by the enemy was one from Colonel Trumbull, 
the Commissary-General, in which he insinuated that 
I had secreted his brother Colonel John Trumbull's 
commission as Adjutant-General. If it be true that 
he has asserted such a thing I shall expect from Con- 
gress that justice which is due to me. The commission 
was never sent; at least never received by me, and if 
it had been. Is there the least probability that I would 
secrete it, after having recommended Colonel John 

155 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Trumbull to the office as an active, discreet and sensi- 
ble officer?" 

That a Commissary-General In the army should 
accuse him of secreting a commission Issued by Con- 
gress seemed to Schuyler to be a matter for Congress 
to Investigate; moreover, the continual attacks of this 
sort were wearing out his patience. Congress would 
not assist him by appointing a court of Inquiry which 
might silence the slanders which continually beset 
him. In this Instance he looked to it for a vindication. 
Having received no reply on this subject for more 
than a month, he then, in his letter of February 4th, 
enclosed the accusing letter of Trumbull, and added 
the following words: "I perceived by some of the 
resolutions that my letter of the 30th December con- 
tinued to the I St of January was received by Congress. 
I was In hopes some notice would have been taken 
of the odious suspicion contained in Mr. Commissary 
Trumbull's Intercepted letter to the Hon. W. Wil- 
liams, Esq. I really feel myself deeply chagrined on 
the occasion. I am incapable of the meanness he 
suspects me of, and I confidently expected that Con- 
gress would have done me that justice which It was 
in their power to give and which, I humbly conceive, 
they ought to have done." 

These remarks regarding Dr. Stringer and Com- 
missary Trumbull afforded the substance of the 
charges which the Gates party made against Schuyler. 
In a loosely constructed body like the Congress, with 

156 



HOSTILE ACTION OF CONGRESS 

seldom more than a bare quorum present, a small 
but determined minority may often carry through a 
preconcerted measure which a majority of the whole 
would never have approved. At this time the New 
York delegation was not present In Philadelphia, and 
the enemies of Schuyler succeeded In passing the fol- 
lowing resolutions, which they felt sure would bring 
about the desired resignation : — 

" Resolved, That as Congress proceeded to the 
dismission of Doctor Stringer, upon reasons satisfac- 
tory to themselves, General Schuyler ought to have 
known It to be his duty to have acquiesced therein, 

" That the suggestion in General Schuyler's letter 
to Congress, that It was a compliment due to him to 
have advised him of the reasons of Dr. Stringer's dis- 
mission, Is highly derogatory to the honor of Con- 
gress; and that the President be desired to acquaint 
General Schuyler that it Is expected his letters, for 
the future, be written in a style more suitable to the 
dignity of the representative body of these free and 
independent states, and to his own character as their 
officer. 

" Resolved, that it is altogether Improper and 
Inconsistent with the dignity of this Congress to inter- 
fere In disputes subsisting among the officers of the 
army; which ought to be settled, unless they can be 
otherwise accommodated. In a court martial, agreeably 
to the rules of the army, and that the expression in 

157 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

General Schuyler's letter of the 4th of February, "that 
he confidently expected Congress would have done 
him that justice, which It was in their power to give, 
and which he humbly conceives they ought to have 
done, were, to say the least. 111 advised and highly in- 
decent." 

Soon after the passage of these resolutions. Gen- 
eral Gates was directed to repair immediately to 
TIconderoga to take the command there, and to em- 
ploy under him such of the French officers as he 
thought proper; and Major-General St. Clair was 
ordered to TIconderoga, there to serve "under Gen- 
eral Gates." Such orders virtually If not officially 
placed Gates at the head of the northern department. 
He left Philadelphia highly elated at the results of 
the winter's work. 

Schuyler duly received the resolutions of reprimand 
and soon after heard of Gates's appointment. The 
resolutions, in their severity, seemed to him so entirely 
out of proportion to any indiscretion he might have 
committed In his letter to Congress, and the appoint- 
ment of Gates to Independent command within his 
own department so unjust and insulting a reflection 
upon him, that he felt that he must go to Philadelphia 
to face his accusers and to settle his own future In 
regard to public employment. If he deserved such 
treatment his resignation must be given and accepted. 
If he did not deserve It, the resolutions must be ex- 

158 



• THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY 

punged from the journals of Congress and he must 
be reinstated in undisputed command of his depart- 
ment. He proceeded at once to Kingston, where the 
New York convention was in session, and explained 
his situation to the members. They appointed him 
a delegate to the Continental Congress, with William 
Duer, and also directed their other delegates, Philip 
Livingston and James Duane to go to Philadelphia 
and take their seats. 

When Schuyler arrived in Philadelphia, In April, 
he found it extremely difficult to ascertain the identity 
of his opponents. From the members in general he 
met with a very cordial reception, and those whom 
he believed to be against him alleged, as he wrote to 
his secretary. Colonel Varick, "that there were no 
complaints against me, and that they have never be- 
lieved in any of the malicious reports propagated to 
my disadvantage. They have, however, gone too far, 
and all that stands on their journals injurious to me 
must be expunged or I quit the service." 

A committee was appointed, consisting of one 
delegate from each State, Messrs. Thornton, Lovell, 
Ellery, Wolcott, Duer, Elmer, Clymer, Sykes, W. 
Smith, Page, Burke, Hayward and Brownson. Be- 
fore this committee the whole story of Schuyler's 
military command from the beginning was threshed 
over. When the report was made to Congress on the 
22d of May, it was 

159 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

" Resolved, That Albany, Ticonderoga, Fort 
Stanwix and their dependencies be henceforward con- 
sidered as forming the northern department, and that 
Major-General Schuyler be directed forthwith to pro- 
ceed to the northern department and to take command 
there." 

Then Congress withdrew its resolutions of censure 
by informing him officially that they " now entertain 
the same favorable sentiments concerning him that 
they had entertained before that letter (of February 
4th) had been received." At the same time his finan- 
cial accounts with the Government were examined by 
the Board of Treasury, which discharged him 
" of all demands of the United States against him." 
A more complete vindication of his official career, 
and a more mortifying defeat for the Gates party 
could hardly have been devised. 

An honest attempt to replace Schuyler by a man 
against whom there was no sectional prejudice and 
who had greater military experience would have de- 
served respect even from Schuyler's friends. But that 
Gates was a small man, an inferior military officer, 
and a self-seeking schemer, he was himself to show 
conclusively. He left Philadelphia under orders, 
which he had sought eagerly and which were perfectly 
distinct, to take command at Ticonderoga. Every 
one knew that an invasion from Canada might take 
place at any time, and consequently that the officer in 
command at Ticonderoga would have enough to do 

160 



GATES AT ALBANY 

there In making preparations for It. But Gates ar- 
rived In Albany In the middle of April, and In that 
town, where he had no command, made himself at 
home. Not a step was taken toward TIconderoga. 
The malls to the fort were Infrequent and precarious. 
From Albany he could keep up his campaign In Con- 
gress much more conveniently, and there he remained 
directing the movements and arguments of his friends. 

On May ist Lovell of the New England delegation 
wrote him: "The affairs to the northeast are In a 
critical situation, for the State of New York In par- 
ticular. Disaffection, as you see. Is greatly prevalent, 
and those who profess well to our cause judge and 
say that there Is but one single man who can keep 
their subjects united against the common enemy, and 
that he stands In our books as commander-in-chief 
in the northern department; that his presence Is ab- 
solutely necessary In his home quarters for their 
Immediate succor and service, as well as that of the 
United States necessarily connected; that If he returns, 
he is a general without an army or military chest, 
and 'why Is he thus disgraced?' ... If you 
are not confined (to TIconderoga) you entirely 
destroy the Idea of their chief to whom they profess 
devotion unbounded. How this matter will be un- 
tangled, I cannot now exactly determine, but I expect 
not entirely agreeable to your sentiments^ 

"Why," replied Gates, "when the argument In 
support of General Schuyler's command was Imposed 

i6i 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

upon Congress, did not you, or somebody, say : 'The 
second post upon this continent next campaign will be 
at or near PeeksklU?' There General Schuyler ought 
to go and command ; that will be the curb In the mouth 
of the New York Tories and the enemy's army. He 
will then be near the convention, and In the centre of 
the colony, have a military chest and all the insignia 
of office. This command In honor could not be re- 
fused without owning there is something more allur- 
ing than command to General Schuyler, by fixing him 
at Albany. By urging this matter home, you would 
have proved the man. He would have resigned all 
command, have accepted the government of New 
York, and been fixed to a station where he must do 
good, and which could not Interfere with, or prevent, 
any arrangement Congress have made, or may here- 
after make. Unhappy State! that has but one man 
in It who can fix the wavering minds of its inhabitants 
to the side of freedom ! How could you sit patiently 
and uncontradicted suffer such impertinence to be 
crammed down your throats? . . .If Gen- 
eral Schuyler is solely to possess all power, all the 
intelligence, and that particular favorite, the military 
chest, and constantly reside at Albany, I cannot, with 
any peace of mind, serve at Ticonderoga." 

In such style did this great general address his 
political supporters. He belonged to that type of 
English soldier who considered all men not born in 
England and bred in her army as necessarily inferior 

162 



CORRESPONDENCE OF GATES 

to himself. Washington was no exception and came 
in for his share of disrespect. Gates took the time 
from his Philadelphia correspondence to send an 
aide-de-camp to Washington at Morristown to ask 
for a supply of tents. Washington replied that his 
army needed all the tents they had, and suggested that 
the northern army, being stationary, could be pro- 
tected in huts. Gates wrote back: "Refusing this 
army what you have not in your power to bestow, is 
one thing; but saying this army has not the same 
necessities as the southern armies, is another. I can 
assure your Excellency the northward requires tents 
as much as any service I ever saw." Then to his 
friend Lovell he insinuated that Washington was 
actuated by sectional motives: "Either I am exceed- 
ingly dull or unreasonably jealous, if I do not discover 
by the style and tenor of the letters from Morristown 
how little I have to expect from thence. Generals 
are so far like parsons they are all for christening their 
own child first ; but let an impartial moderating power 
decide between us, and do not suffer southern prejudice 
to weigh heavier in the balance than the northern." 

Lovell gave signs of being fatigued by this cor- 
respondence, and on the 2 2d of May brought that 
to an end, together with Gates's hopes, by informing 
him that: "Misconception of past resolves and con- 
sequent jealousies have produced a definition of the 
northern department, and General Schuyler is ordered 
to take command of it." Gates's anger was great 

163 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

and freely expressed to all who would listen. Colonel 
Wilkinson, of his staff, who, like his chief, held the 
pen of a ready writer, wrote fromTiconderoga : "The 
manoeuvres of Congress really baffle my penetration; 
by no stretch of ingenuity can I discern the motives 
of their late conduct; they have injured themselves, 
they have insulted you, and by so doing have been 
guilty of the foulest ingratitude. How base, how 
pitiful, or how little deserving the name is that Public 
Power which individual consequence can intimidate 
or bribe to its purpose ! It can surely never sustain, 
unless ashamed of virtue, the just indignation of 
Injured honesty. No, my general, every satisfaction 
which justice demands, with every submission which 
pleases vanity, you will, you must, you shall, sooner 
or later receive." 

After all, what had Congress done? It had sim^ply 
declared that Schuyler's conduct in office had been 
without reproach and reaffirmed him in his command 
of the northern department. Gates's appointment to 
the command of Ticonderoga under Schuyler re- 
mained in force. His opportunity to display his mili- 
tary abilities, to be in the forefront of a great cam- 
paign, to render distinguished services to the State, 
was assured. It was common talk that Burgoyne was 
to lead a great attack upon New York from Canada, 
that such an attack was imminent. He himself had 
lately written to Lovell: "Nothing is more certain 
than that the onemy must first possess that single 

164 



CONDUCT OF GATES 

rock before they can penetrate the country. It is 
foolish in the extreme to beheve the enemy, this year, 
can form any attack from the northward but by 
Ticonderoga." And yet that post of honor, which 
must bear the brunt of attack, was left to take care 
of itself during the two months that he spent in 
Albany writing letters to his political friends in 
Philadelphia. And now, that the matter was settled, 
that Schuyler was to remain at the head of the north- 
ern department, and that he was to have command 
of the great fortress at the gateway of the country, 
what was his obvious duty and interest? Plainly, to 
repair to his post, to apply all his skill to making it 
impregnable, and to make a reputation in defending 
it in the approaching struggle. Such was the course 
natural to a soldier. Instead he sulked, applied to 
Schuyler for leave of absence and hastened to Phila- 
delphia. On the 1 8th of June, Roger Sherman, 
delegate from Connecticut, informed Congress that 
General Gates was waiting at the door for admittance. 
"For what purpose?" inquired William Paca. "To 
communicate intelligence of importance," replied 
Sherman. Being admitted. Gates took a seat, and of 
the ensuing scene a lively description is given by 
William Duer: — 

"The intelligence he communicated was that the 
Indians were extremely friendly, much delighted with 
seeing French officers in our service, and other com- 
monplace stuff, which at present I cannot recollect. 

.165 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Having thus gone through the ostensible part of the 
plan, he took out of his pocket some scraps of papers 
containing a narrative of his birth, parentage, and 
education, life, character, and behavior. He In- 
formed the House that he had quitted an easy and 
happy life to enter their service, from a pure zeal for 
the liberties of America; that he had strenuously 
exerted himself in its defence; that in some time in 
May last he was appointed to a command in the 
northern department, and a few days since, without 
having given any cause of offence, without accusation, 
without trial, without hearing, without notice, he had 
received a resolution by which he was in a most 
disgraceful manner superseded in his command. Here 
his oration became warm, and contained many reflec- 
tions upon Congress, and malicious insinuations 
against Mr. Duane, whose name he mentioned, and 
related some conversation which he said had passed 
between him and that gentleman on his way to Al- 
bany. Here Mr. Duane rose, and, addressing himself 
to the President, hoped that the General would ob- 
serve order, and cease any personal applications, as 
he could not, in Congress, enter into any controversy 
with him on the subject of any former conversation. 
Mr. Paca caught the fire, and immediately moved 
that the General be ordered to withdraw. I seconded 
the motion, observing that the conduct of the General 
was unbecoming the House to endure, and himself 
to be guilty of. Mr. Jerry Dyson, Mr. Sherman and 

i66 



HUMILIATION OF GATES 

some others of his eastern friends rose, and en- 
deavored to palliate his conduct and to oppose his 
withdrawing; on this Mr. Middleton, Mr. Burke, 
Colonel Harrison and two or three others arose, and 
there was a general clamor in the House that he 
should immediately withdraw. All this while the 
General stood upon the floor, and interposed several 
times in the debates which arose on this subject; how- 
ever, the clamor increasing, he withdrew. A debate 
then ensued concerning the propriety of the General's 
conduct, and that of the members who, contrary to 
the rules of Parliament, contended for the propriety 
of his staying after a motion had been made and 
seconded that he should withdraw. The want of 
candor in Mr. Sherman, who asked for his admittance 
on the pretence of his giving the House intelligence, 
was much inveighed against, but he bore it all with 
a true Connecticut stoicism. Congress at length came 
to the determination that General Gates should not 
again be admitted to the floor, but that he should be 
informed that Congress was ready and willing to hear, 
by way of memorial, any grievances which he had to 
complain of. Here this matter ended. Not, as you 
will observe, to his credit or advantage. It is Impos- 
sible for me to give you an idea of the unhappy figure 
which G. G. made on this occasion. His manner was 
ungracious, and totally devoid of all dignity; his 
delivery incoherent and interrupted with frequent 
chasms, In which he was peering over his scattered 

167 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

notes; and the tenor of his discourse was a compound 
of vanity, folly and rudeness. I can assure you that 
notwithstanding his conduct has been such as to have 
eradicated from my mind every sentiment of respect 
and esteem for him, I felt for him as a man, and for 
the honor of human nature wished him to withdraw 
before he had plunged himself into utter contempt." 



x68 



Chapter VI. 

Burgoyne's Invasion. — Evacuation of Ticonderoga. 
Schuyler's Military Operations. 

IN the autumn of 1776 the British under Carleton 
had ascended Lake Champlain as far as Crown 
Point, had destroyed the American fleet under 
Arnold and had threatened Ticonderoga. But, im- 
pressed by the strength of that fortress, and fearing 
a long siege protracted Into the winter months, they 
had withdrawn Into Canada. Carleton's prudence 
had disappointed his government and had surprised 
the Americans, who were well prepared for attack. 
That the British should appear again before Ticon- 
deroga in the spring was a natural expectation. 
Schuyler had kept as strong a garrison there as he 
could during the winter, and in March he was actively 
employed In efforts to strengthen It. He represented 
to Congress the Importance of Ticonderoga and the 
certainty of Its being attacked. But little result was 
obtainable from Congress. That body had not much 
to give either In men or munitions of war. It was 
doing what It could for Washington, and hardly knew 
how to meet the demands which came from every 
military quarter. Moreover, the Board of War was 

i6g 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 




THE NORTHERN DEPARTMENT AND BURGOYNE*S 
CAMPAIGN. 



170 



THE SITUATION IN THE NORTH 

not inclined to pay much attention to Schuyler's rep- 
resentations, because, as we have seen, it was en- 
deavoring to place the military control of the northern 
department in the hands of General Gates. At the 
end of March this was actually done. Whatever 
Gates's commission might mean, it certainly gave him 
command over Ticonderoga. Thus Schuyler not only 
found himself debarred from proceeding in his work 
at that fortress, but he was obliged to leave Albany, 
to go to Philadelphia and to spend as much time there 
as Congress might require to investigate his past con- 
duct and to define his military status. During the 
most important months of April and May he was 
necessarily at Philadelphia, and without power or 
responsibility in the northern department. During 
these months Gates was the commanding officer there. 
But he, absorbed in his correspondence with his 
friends in Congress, worrying lest his plans to super- 
sede Schuyler should prove ineffective, remained in- 
active In Albany, paid not a single visit to Ticon- 
deroga, and contented himself with telling St. Clair 
to "call lustily for aid of all kinds, for no general 
ever lost by surplus numbers or overpreparation." 

Thus, when Schuyler returned to Albany on the 
8th of June, once more in command of the depart- 
ment, he found everything as he had left it, except 
that two months' provisions had been consumed and 
not replaced. The two precious months of spring 
which should have been devoted to adding troops, 

171 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

provisions and ammunition to the military resources 
of his department were gone. Of the magnitude of 
the invasion which was impending, of the great force 
gathering at Quebec under Burgoyne, he knew noth- 
ing. But that Ticonderoga and the province of New 
York were threatened by an attack of some kind from 
Canada, he felt sure. His incessant efforts to obtain 
more men and supplies were rewarded by an addi- 
tion of five hundred men, which he sent to St. Clair 
with a good supply of provisions. He gave detailed 
directions to St. Clair regarding the further fortifying 
of the defences about Ticonderoga, and ordered him 
to keep scouting parties in the woods along the shores 
of Lake Champlain to report any approach of the 
enemy. 

On the 15th of June a British spy was captured, 
and from him Schuyler obtained the first definite 
information of the enemy's plans. The spy reported 
that General Burgoyne was at Quebec and intended 
to attack the province of New York by way of Lake 
Champlain, while Sir John Johnson at the head of 
Canadians and Indians was to descend the Mohawk 
Valley and join Burgoyne near Albany. Schuyler 
assumed this information to be true. But he had as 
yet no idea of the great size of the invading force. 
As far as his knowledge went of troops then in Canada 
he felt that he could hold Ticonderoga with the gar- 
rison already there. But against the expedition of 
Sir John Johnson down the Mohawk Valley, he had 

172 



PREPARATIONS AT TICONDEROGA 

no force to oppose. He wrote to Washington at once, 
stating the circumstances and asking for re-enforce- 
ment to defend the Mohawk. Valley. Washington was 
then near MIddlebrook, in New Jersey, opposing 
General Howe. Gates had arrived in camp from 
Philadelphia, and he assured Washington that there 
was no likelihood of Invasions of any consequence 
from Canada at the time. Washington, In his uncer- 
tainty, sent no troops, but ordered General Putnam, 
who was encamped near the Hudson Highlands, to 
be ready to move up the river at a moment's notice 
with four Massachusetts regiments. 

Schuyler then went to TIconderoga, and on the 
20th of June, after an inspection of the troops and 
defences, held a council of war, which was attended 
by Major-General St. Clair and Brigadier-Generals 
Poor, Patterson and de Fermoy. The situation was 
far from satisfactory, but as the force of the enemy 
expected was unknown and much underestimated, the 
outlook was by no means discouraging. The whole 
number of troops was about three thousand, of whom 
five hundred were sick or otherwise Ineffective. Many 
were "actually barefooted and most of them ragged." 
The requests for clothing which Schuyler had made 
to Congress In March had met with no response, and 
Gates had made no efforts to supply the troops during 
his two months of command. There were provisions 
enough for the present, and a few days later Schuyler 
sent up a further supply which he had collected from 

173 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

different points and concentrated at Fort George. 
The men were in good spirits and ready to fight. But 
they were too few for the extent of ground to be 
covered. 

There were two forts, one on either side of the 
narrow passage which connects Lakes George and 
Champlain. One was the old fort taken by Ethan 
Allan and Benedict Arnold in May, 1775; the other 
a star fort built in 1776 under Schuyler's orders. The 
two were connected by a floating bridge four hundred 
yards long, built of heavy timbers connected by iron 
chains and supported by twenty-two sunken piers. 
To the north of the bridge was a great boom carrying 
a double iron chain with links an inch and a half 
thick. The bridge was protected by batteries at either 
end, and with the boom formed a barrier to the pas- 
sage of vessels. Connected with the two forts were 
quite extensive outworks, but these, as well as emi- 
nences in the immediate neighborhood. Sugar Loaf 
Hill and Mt. Hope, could not be occupied for want 
of men and cannon. Against such an attack as was 
anticipated, of perhaps three thousand men, Ticon- 
deroga was considered defencible. The men on the 
ground could hold the two forts and the bridge, and 
it was resolved to defend them to the last. As to 
the outworks, and the neighboring hills, it was recog- 
nized that, unless re-enforcements came, they could 
not be defended. On the other hand, it was not sup- 
posed that the enemy would come in sufficient force 

174 



APPROACH OF BURGOYNE 

to take possession of them. As yet there was no news 
of the British, only the knowledge that an attack from 
Canada was to be expected. 

Schuyler, having the business and safety of the 
whole northern department to provide for, then re- 
turned to Albany. Having received confirmatory 
information regarding the invasion of the Mohawk 
Valley, he took measures to organize the Whigs there, 
and instructed Colonel Nicholas Herkimer, who lived 
near the Little Falls of the Mohawk and commanded 
the Tryon County militia, to prepare his men for the 
protection of the western frontier. To Washington 
he described his plans and his needs. Not only was 
he without any adequate force to meet Sir John 
Johnson in the west, but in case of weakness or dis- 
aster at Ticonderoga, he had no reserve to call upon. 
In all the northern department outside of the forts at 
Ticonderoga, there were hardly seven hundred men 
under arms, and these were dispersed at several posts 
guarding supplies. In this situation, on the 27th of 
June, he received word from St. Clair that the enemy 
was approaching. Burgoyne's army was ascending 
the lake, was already assembling at Crown Point ; the 
water was dotted with vessels conveying the troops 
from St. John's, and the wooded shores were swarm- 
ing with savages in war paint. 

The army now invading New York, of the size and 
objects of which so little was known to the Americans, 
was intended by the British ministry to be the means 

175 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

of dividing the rebellious country into two parts, 
rendering their co-operation impracticable, and thus 
making easy the separate conquest of New England 
and the southern colonies. A similar idea had pre- 
vailed in the military operations of the year before, 
when the British had taken possession of New York 
City and the lower Hudson, and Carleton had made 
his attack from Canada. But now the plan was to 
be carried to completion by an overwhelming force. 

General John Burgoyne was a distinguished officer 
and had done good service in the recent war in 
Portugal, causing Carlyle to speak of him as "the 
Burgoyne who begins In this pretty way at Valencia 
d' Alcantara." He had made himself well known by 
the development of light cavalry, and his regiment, 
called Burgoyne's Light Horse, was a favorite feature 
of the British army and much valued by the King. 
He had made a runaway match with the daughter of 
the Earl of Derby, was a courtier, having the ear 
of George III. and on the best of terms with the 
ministry. He had written some military treatises of 
value and was always pleased to take a pen In hand. 
Proclamations which he wrote for Gage at Boston, 
and during this campaign for himself, were expressed 
in the pompous manner of the expiring Johnsonian 
style. He was a member of Parliament. His char- 
acter and intentions were good and his disposition 
humane. While with Gage's army at Boston he had 
acquired much respect for the fighting qualities of the 

176 



BRITISH PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 

rebels, which was not diminished during his campaign 
with Carleton in the autumn of 177.6. When that 
campaign was concluded he obtained leave to return 
to England for the winter, carrying with him a plan 
for the operations of 1777 which coincided so nearly 
with the ideas of the ministry that it was readily 
adopted. 

A powerful army was to invade New York from 
Canada by way of the Sorel River and Lake Cham- 
plain, take Ticonderoga and descend the Hudson 
Valley to Albany. Another force made up of Cana- 
dians and Indians under Sir John Johnson was to 
approach from the west by way of Oswego, reduce 
the Mohawk Valley and join the main army at 
Albany. At the same time General Howe, then at 
New York, was to ascend the Hudson and form a 
junction with the other divisions. If successful the 
campaign would cause the complete reduction of New 
York, the division of the colonies into two parts 
unable to assist each other and liable in turn to over- 
whelming attack. The plan seemed a good one and, 
if followed out exactly, gave every promise of suc- 
cess. There was one alteration which Burgoyne 
sought to have made in it: that in case he found it 
inexpedient or impossible to perform his part, 
he should be allowed some latitude of action, such as 
to divert his course into New England. But the 
ministers refused his request. The orders were posi- 
tive. Burgoyne must march on Albany; Howe must 

177 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

ascend the Hudson to meet him. Burgoyne, being 
in London, received and understood his orders. But, 
extraordinary to relate, Howe never received his. 
That he made no movement in the direction of Albany 
gave as much surprise to Washington as anxiety to 
Burgoyne. The reason was unknown until long after- 
wards, when Howe's orders were found unsigned in 
a pigeonhole in the War Office. There came to light 
among the papers of Lord Shelburne a memorandum 
stating that Lord George Germaine, " having among 
other peculiarities a particular aversion to be put out 
of his way on any occasion, had arranged to call at 
his office on his way to the country in order to sign 
the despatches; but as those addressed to Howe had 
not been 'fair copied' and he was not disposed to be 
balked of his projected visit into Kent, they were not 
signed then, and were forgotten on his return to 
town." Such being the business methods of Lord 
George Germaine's office, the expedition against Al- 
bany was limited to the attacks under Johnson and 
Burgoyne. But even thus, it might well seem over- 
whelming in numbers and strength. 

Burgoyne arrived at Quebec in May, and trans- 
ports continued to land troops until he had an army 
of nearly eight thousand men, of which about four 
thousand were British regulars, three thousand Ger- 
mans and one thousand Canadians and Indians. 
The army was thoroughly equipped and had a fine 
train of brass cannon. The soldiers, both German 

178 



BURGOYNE AND THE INDIANS 

and British, were veterans; and the officers had been 
selected for ability. Generals Fraser, Phillips, and 
Hamilton, Majors Lord Ackland and Balcarres had 
reputations founded on active service; General Rie- 
desel, in command of the Germans, had served with 
credit through the Seven Years' War. Burgoyne 
ordered the concentration of all his forces at St. 
John's at the foot of Lake Champlain on June the 
ist, and they had assembled there by the i8th, about 
the time that the first news reached Schuyler of an 
intended invasion. 

Here the army was joined by four hundred In- 
dians, whom, It should be said, Burgoyne employed 
only because his orders required It. With the vain 
desire to control their ferocity and to limit their ac- 
tivities to legitimate warfare, he made them an ad- 
dress in his best Johnsonian style, which, in the rough 
version of an Indian interpreter, must have puzzled 
a band of savages bent upon loot and scalps: "War- 
riors, you are free! Go forth in the might of your 
valor and your cause; strike at the common enemJes 
of Great Britain and America, disturbers of public 
order, peace and happiness, destroyers of com- 
merce, parricides of the state. The circle around 
you, the chiefs of His Majesty's European forces 
and of the Prince's, his allies, esteem you as brothers 
in the war. . . . Be it our task, from the dic- 
tates of our religion, the laws of our warfare, and 
the principles and Interest of our policy, to regulate 

179 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

your passions when they overbear, to point out 
where it is nobler to spare than to revenge, to dis- 
criminate the degrees of guilt, to suspend the up- 
lifted stroke, to chastise and not to destroy. I posi- 
tively forbid bloodshed whenever you are not op- 
posed in arms. Aged men, women, and children 
and prisoners must be held secure from the knife or 
hatchet even in the time of actual conflict. 
In conformity and indulgence to your customs, 
which have affixed an idea of honor to such badges 
of victory, you will be allowed to take the scalps of 
the dead when killed by your fire or in fair opposi- 
tion, but on no account or pretence or subtlety or 
prevarication are they to be taken from the 
wounded or even from the dying." Burke ridiculed 
this speech amidst the laughter of the House of 
Commons. "Suppose," he said, "that there was a 
riot on Tower Hill. What would the keeper of his 
Majesty's lions do? Would he not fling open the 
dens of his wild beasts, and then address them thus: 
* My gentle lions, my humane bears, my tender- 
hearted hyenas, go forth ! But I exhort you, as you 
are Christians and members of civilized society, to 
take care not to hurt any man, woman, or child." 

From St. John's the British army was conveyed 
southward in boats to Crown Point, where Bur- 
goyne reviewed them and made an address ending 
with the words: "This army must not retreat." On 
the 27th of June the army began its movement upon 

180 



INVESTMENT OF TICONDEROGA 

Ticonderoga ; the Indians and Canadians posting 
themselves in the neighboring woods, the regular 
troops taking up commanding positions which the 
Americans, for lack of men, had been unable to 
occupy. By July 5 th Ticonderoga was invested by 
an army of more than seven thousand regular 
troops. Within the main works were about three 
thousand provincials indifferently armed, but de- 
termined and confident. St. Clair had no idea of 
the size of the army which was attacking him. On 
July 3d he wrote to General Heath: "They have ap- 
proached to within three miles of Ticonderoga, 
where they are intrenching themselves and also are 
throwing a boom across the lake. This does not 
convey with it an idea that they have any great 
force." 

On the 27th of June Schuyler was in Albany pro- 
viding for the defence of the Mohawk Valley, when 
he received news from St. Clair that a British force 
had arrived at Crown Point. He sent off imme- 
diate expresses to Washington, to the governors of 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, 
and to the Committees of Berkshire and New York, 
stating that an invasion was actually in progress and 
begging for re-enforcements. It was the great dif- 
ficulty of Schuyler's situation that he belonged to a 
colony sparse in population, of which the southern 
portion was already in possession of the enemy and 
the remainder too thinly settled to furnish troops. 

i8i 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

He must depend for soldiers upon the neighboring 
colonies, and they would not withdraw men from 
the fields until the danger was known to be immi- 
nent. Thus, while TIconderoga was being attacked, 
weeks must ensue before troops could be gathered in 
New England and forwarded to him. 

When Washington received Schuyler's informa- 
tion that the British had occupied Crown Point he 
had a difficult problem to solve before he could 
think of sending help. Howe was evidently about 
to make some movement. His army had left Perth 
Amboy and had camped on the shores of New York 
Bay. Howe himself had made his headquarters on 
Staten Island, off which the fleet had anchored. He 
was going somewhere; was it North or South? The 
movement against TIconderoga might be a feint, 
while the main British army in Canada proceeded by 
sea to join Howe. If Burgoyne were really invad- 
ing New York in force, Howe would surely ascend 
the Hudson to join him. If Washington should 
move up the Hudson ahead of Howe, the latter 
might march southward upon Philadelphia. Wash- 
ington could do nothing but watch Howe and go 
where he went. At present all he could do for 
Schuyler was to order some troops then at PeeksklU 
to march to Albany. "If we can keep General 
Howe below the Highlands," he wrote to Schuyler 
July 2d, "I think their schemes will be entirely baf- 
fled." 

182 



TICONDEROGA EVACUATED 

During those few days in Albany, Schuyler was 
absorbed in providing for the defence of the west- 
ern frontier, whence came alarming news. Savages 
were scalping settlers and burning houses along the 
border from Fort Stanwix to the Susquehanna 
River. The threatened invasion from Oswego 
under Johnson had spread terror through Tryon 
County, the inhabitants of which made constant ap- 
peals for aid. Through Colonels Van Schaick and 
Herkimer, Schuyler organized the Whigs and sent 
them arms. He urged the patriot inhabitants to 
join in efforts for their own protection, and assured 
them of Continental support, " If we act with vigor 
and spirit," he wrote to Herkimer, "we have noth- 
ing to fear, but if once despondency takes place the 
worst consequences are to be apprehended." 

While thus providing for the various needs of his 
department, Schuyler was awaiting Impatiently the 
arrival of the promised troops from Peeksklll, for 
whom he had sent sloops down the river. There 
was no sign of them on the 5th. "If they do not 
arrive by to-morrow," he wrote to Congress, "I 
shall go on without them, and do the best I can with 
the militia." They did not arrive, and Schuyler set 
out alone for Ticonderoga. When between Sara- 
toga and Stillwater he was met by Colonel Hay 
bearing the astounding and Incomprehensible news 
that St. Clair had evacuated Ticonderoga with all 
his men. 

183 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Schuyler knew that the fortress was insufficiently 
manned; that its capture by a superior force was 
only too possible. But that it should have been evac- 
uated without a struggle was beyond explanation. 
And St. Clair had disappeared absolutely. Colonel 
Hay could not tell where he was. Several days 
elapsed before any word was received from him. 
Presuming that the American army must have pro- 
ceeded southward Schuyler despatched couriers into 
the woods with orders for St. Clair or the officer 
in command to join him at Fort Edward on the 
Hudson River, south of Lake George, There he 
went himself at once and established headquarters. 
To Washington, to Congress, and to the Committee 
of Safety he communicated the bare fact of the 
evacuation, for which as yet he could give no reason. 

The news of the loss of Ticonderoga spread with 
great rapidity through the country. Unaccom- 
panied as it was by any explanation, the worst con- 
struction was put upon it for both St. Clair and 
Schuyler. Accusations of treachery were loudly 
made and readily believed. All of northern New 
York was in consternation, even the people of Al- 
bany preparing for flight. The militia, which 
Schuyler had been organizing, lost heart and melted 
away. In New England prevailed an intense feel- 
ing of anger and discouragement. Pierre Van Cort- 
landt wrote to General Putnam : "The evacuation of 

184 



EFFECT OF THE NEWS 

Ticonderoga appears to the Council highly reprehen- 
sible, and it gives them great pain to find that a 
measure so absurd and probably criminal should be 
imputed to the direction of General Schuyler, in 
whose zeal, vigilance, and integrity the Council re- 
pose the highest confidence." On July i8th Wash- 
ington wrote to Schuyler: "I will not condemn or 
even pass a censure upon any oflicer unheard; but I 
think it a duty which General St. Clair owes to his 
own character to insist upon an opportunity of giv- 
ing the reasons for his sudden evacuation of a post 
which, but a few days before, he, by his own letters, 
thought tenable, at least for a while. People at a 
distance are apt to form wrong conjectures; and if 
General St. Clair had good reason for the step he 
has taken I think the sooner he justifies himself the 
better. I have mentioned these matters because he 
may not know that his conduct is looked upon as 
very unaccountable by all ranks of people in this 
part of the country. If he is reprehensible, the pub- 
lic have an undeniable right to call for that justice 
which Is due from an officer who betrays or gives up 
his post In an unwarrantable manner." 

Schuyler found himself the object of the most 
violent personal attacks. In New England espe- 
cially, he was openly accused of having treacher- 
ously delivered the fortress Into the hands of the 
enemy. He wrote to Jay: "Those that form un- 
favorable conclusions from my absence from Ticon- 

185 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

deroga ought to know that I hastened from It in 
order to provide for its safety, to throw In a greater 
quantity of provisions and those reinforcements of 
men which I had appHed for; that I had everything 
to do; nothing, hterally nothing, having been done 
whilst the department was committed to General 
Gates's direction." "I might easily have exculpated 
myself from the many heavy charges which have 
been brought against me," he wrote to Congress, "if 
I had dared to venture a publication, which must 
necessarily have contained extracts from my letters 
to Congress, to His Excellency General Washington, 
and to the general officers under my command; but 
as such a step might have prejudiced the public, I 
have hitherto waived it, hoping that a little time will 
discover that I have labored under unmerited cal- 
umny." He wrote to Washington : "I will, how- 
ever, go on smiling with contempt on the malice of 
my enemies, doing my duty, and attempting to de- 
serve your esteem, which will console me for the 
abuse that thousands may unjustly throw out against 
me." 

Amid the general blame and clamor it is not 
difficult to imagine the state of feeling in Congress 
and the effect on Schuyler's reputation and pros- 
pects. The Gates party, whose schemes had so late- 
ly come to naught, now felt Itself justified, and 
seized so favorable an opportunity to carry out its 
defeated purpose. John Adams exclaimed: "We 

i86 



CAUSE OF THE EVACUATION 

shall never be able to defend a post until we shoot a 
general!" Samuel Adams wrote to Richard Henry 
Lee: "I confess it is no more than I expected when 
he (Schuyler) was again appointed to the command 
there. . . . Gates is the man of my choice." 
The news of the evacuation of Ticonderoga, at first 
unexplained, and when explained not well under- 
stood as a military necessity, gave to the New Eng- 
land delegation the excuse they needed to put their 
unworthy favorite in Schuyler's place. Let us see 
what had caused this event, so discouraging to the 
country, so injurious at the time to the reputation of 
St. Clair, so unjustly fatal to Schuyler's military 
career. 

Ticonderoga, while a very strong position if fully 
manned, was untenable by a force insufficient to de- 
fend its whole extent. The narrow pass through 
which flowed the waters of the lake was surrounded 
by eminences which commanded the main works be- 
low and which should have been occupied by bat- 
teries. In the previous assaults on Ticonderoga the 
contending forces were not possessed of cannon of 
long range. Thus these distant eminences had been 
useless, and the struggle had occurred below at the 
forts near the water. The Americans under St. 
Clair were too few to man more than the lower 
forts. There were several outlying works recently 
constructed, which they had been obliged to leave 
empty. To defend the forts and outworks and to 

187 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

keep on the neighboring hills a force sufficient to 
prevent the enemy from taking possession of them 
would have required between six and eight thousand 
men. St. Clair had only about three thousand, 
enough to defend the lower forts where they were 
concentrated. That St. Clair was hopeful of his 
ability to hold the position was due to his ignorance 
of the size of the attacking army, and especially of 
the long range of their guns. 

Three-quarters of a mile south of Ticonderoga 
rises six hundred feet above the surface of the lake 
a rocky crag then called Sugar Loaf Hill. The 
practised military eye of General Phillips took in the 
position. He knew that some of his fine guns could 
carry from that crag into the forts. That it was 
inaccessible for cannon he did not believe. " Where 
a goat can go," he said, "a man can go; and where 
a man can go, he can haul up a gun." Working at 
night Phillips placed a battery on the top of Sugar 
Loaf Hill, which he renamed Mount Defiance. On 
the morning of July 5th the American army saw the 
British artillery frowning above them. The red- 
coats on Mount Defiance could look down into the 
American works and count the men. Their guns 
could rake the forts. Ticonderoga had become a 
trap in which the American army was caught and 
could be destroyed. St. Clair saw that his position 
was lost. His duty now was to save his army. 

188 



TRUMBULL'S ACCOUNT 

That night he marched It out of the forts and south- 
ward Into the forest. The next day the British flag 
was flying In triumph over Ticonderoga, while a 
strong detachment pursued the Americans up Lake 
George and through the woods. The difliculties of 
the retreat and of communication made It Impossible 
for St. Clair to Inform Schuyler of what had hap- 
pened or of his line of march until several days had 
passed. That St. Clair, under the circumstances, 
had done his duty as a prudent officer, was In time 
universally acknowledged. Of this unfortunate and 
final appearance of Ticonderoga In our military an- 
nals so interesting an account is given In the autobiog- 
raphy of John Trumbull, the artist, that It may be 
repeated here. Trumbull was an aide on Gates's 
staff when the latter was in command at Ticonder- 
oga in the previous autumn: 

"The position of our army extended from 
Mount Independence on the right and east side of 
the lake to the old French lines on the west forming 
our left, protected at various points by redoubts and 
batteries, on which were mounted more than a hun- 
dred pieces of heavy cannon. After some time It 
was seen that the extreme left was weak and might 
easily be turned; a post was therefore established on 
an eminence, nearly half a mile in advance of the 
old French lines, which was called Mount Hope. 
Thus our entire position formed an extensive cres- 
cent, of which the centre was a lofty eminence, called 

189 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Mount Defiance, the termination of that mountain 
ridge which separates Lake George from Lake 
Champlain, and which rises precipitously from the 
waters of the latter to a height of six hundred feet. 
The outlet of Lake George enters Champlain at the 
foot of this eminence, and separates it from the old 
French fort and lines of Ticonderoga. This im- 
portant position had hitherto been neglected by the 
engineers of all parties, French, English, and Amer- 
ican. 

"I had for some time regarded this eminence as 
completely overruling our entire position. It was 
said, indeed, to be at too great a distance to be dan- 
gerous; but by repeated observation I had satisfied 
my mind that the distance was by no means so great 
as was generally supposed, and at length, at the 
table of General Gates, where the principal officers 
of the army were present, I ventured to advance the 
new and heretical opinion that our position was bad 
and untenable, as being overlooked in all its parts by 
this hill. I was ridiculed for advancing such an 
extravagant idea. I persisted, however, and as the 
truth could not be ascertained by argument, by theory, 
or by ridicule, I requested and obtained the general's 
permission to ascertain it by experiment. General 
(then Major) Stevens was busy at the north point 
of Mount Independence in examining and proving 
cannon; I went over to him on the following morn- 
ing, and selected a long, double-fortified French 

190 



TRUMBULL'S ACCOUNT 

brass gun (a twelve-pounder), which was loaded 
with the proof charge of best powder and double 
shotted. When I desired him to elevate this gun so 
that it should point at the summit of Mount Defi- 
ance he looked surprised, and gave his opinion that 
the shot would not cross the lake. 'That is what I 
wish to ascertain. Major,' was my answer; 'I believe 
they will, and you will direct your men to look 
sharp, and we, too, will keep a good look-out; if the 
shot drop in the lake their splash will easily be seen; 
if, as I expect, they reach the hill, we shall know it 
by the dust of the impression which they will make 
upon its rocky face.' The gun was fired, and the 
shot were plainly seen to strike at more than half the 
height of the hill. I returned to headquarters and 
made my triumphant report; and after dinner re- 
quested the general (Gates) and ofiicers who were 
with him to walk out upon the glacis of the old 
French fort where I had ordered a common six- 
pound field gun to be placed in readiness. This was, 
in their presence, loaded with the ordinary charge, 
pointed at the top of the hill, and when fired it was 
seen that the shot struck near the summit. Thus the 
truth of the new doctrine was demonstrated; but 
still it was insisted upon that this summit was inac- 
cessible to the enemy. This also I denied, and again 
resorted to experiment. General Arnold, Colonel 
Wayne, and several other active ofiicers accom- 
panied me in the general's barge, which landed us at 

191 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

the foot of the hill, where It was most precipitous 
and rocky, and we clambered to the summit In a 
short time. The ascent was difficult and laborious, 
but not impracticable, and when we looked down 
upon the outlet of Lake George it was obvious to 
all that there could be no difficulty In driving up a 
loaded carriage. 

Our present position required at least ten thou- 
sand men and a hundred pieces of artillery for Its 
doubtful security. I assumed that it would be found 
Impossible for the government, in future campaigns, 
to devote so great a force to the maintenance of a 
single post; and as there was no road on either side 
of the lake by which an enemy could penetrate into 
the country south, he must necessarily make use of 
this route by water; and as the summit of Mount 
Defiance looked down upon and completely com- 
manded the narrow parts of both the lakes, a small 
but strong post there, commanded by an officer who 
would maintain it to the last extremity, would be a 
more effectual and essentially a less expensive de- 
fence of this pass than all our present extended 
lines. 

"The events of the succeeding campaign demon- 
strated the correctness of my views; for General St. 
Clair was left to defend Ticonderoga without any 
essential addition to the garrison which had been 
placed under his command by General Gates In the 
preceding November, because the Congress could 

192 



RESPONSIBILITY OF GATES 

not spare more men or means; so that, when Gen- 
eral Burgoyne presented himself at Three-Mile 
Point no opposition could be hazarded to his move- 
ments, and instead of assaulting the works (as had 
been formerly done by General Abercrombie in 
1757), he silently turned the left of the position, 
crossed the outlet of Lake George, and established a 
battery of heavy guns on the summit of Mount De- 
fiance, the shot from which plunged into the old 
French fort and lines, and reached all points of 
Mount Independence, so that, as I had predicted, 
the whole position became untenable and was im- 
mediately abandoned. General St. Clair became 
the object of furious denunciations, whereas he mer- 
ited thanks for having saved a part of the devoted 
garrison, who subsequently formed the nucleus of 
that force by which, in the course of the campaign. 
General Burgoyne was ultimately baffled, and com- 
pelled to surrender his victorious army by the con- 
vention of Saratoga." 

Schuyler had his share in the responsibility for the 
neglect to secure Mount Defiance, but the respon- 
sibility of Gates was far greater. He was in com- 
mand at TIconderoga when the subject was so for- 
cibly called to his attention by Trumbull. Yet he 
was satisfied with casting ridicule upon the discovery 
of a young American officer. During these last two 
months, April and May of 1777, while he had the 
independent command of TIconderoga, and should 

193 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

have been there examining and Improving Its de- 
fences, he had remained In Albany, writing to his 
friends In Congress and scheming to supplant his 
fellow-officer. And yet this was the man who was 
now to profit by the misfortune which was largely 
the result of his own negligence and want of judg- 
ment. 

When St. Clair left TIconderoga he had no boats 
to convey his army up the lake, and so struck off to 
the southeast through the woods, where he would be 
out of the way of a force pursuing by water. When 
his rear guard was at Hubbardton, a few miles 
south of TIconderoga and east of Lake George, It 
was attacked by General Fraser and a, thousand 
men. In this engagement the Americans were at 
first successful and beat back the British. But a re- 
inforcement of Hessians coming up under Riedesel, 
the Americans retreated, leaving about three hun- 
dred killed and wounded. The pursuit, however, 
had been so checked that St. Clair joined Schuyler 
at Fort Edward on the 12th without further casual- 
ties. The long march through the woods had pre- 
vented his sending an earlier account of himself to 
Schuyler, who had been much blamed for not know- 
ing the situation of this part of the army. The re- 
treating troops had saved nothing but their arms 
and clothing. They were much discouraged by the 
hardship of the flight, and on the way many militia- 
men had deserted and gone home. Harvest time 

194 



THE ARMY AT FORT EDWARD 

was approaching. As long as victory seemed prob- 
able the mllltia were willing to remain and fight. 
But, disheartened by this reverse, two complete New 
England regiments went off in a body. It was not, 
perhaps, a technical military desertion. The terms 
of enlistment were so loose that the men could al- 
most choose the day when they saw fit to declare their 
time to be up. But these desertions left St. Clair not 
more than fifteen hundred men. 

At Fort Edward, Schuyler found himself In a 
position of extreme difficulty. Including five hun- 
dred men under Nixon who had at last arrived from 
Peeksklll, mllltia whom he had collected himself, 
and St. Clair's troops, his army numbered about 
three thousand. They were diminishing rather than 
increasing. While the continental troops remained 
faithful, the militia were constantly dropping off. 
There was almost no artillery. Scouts reported the 
enemy to be approaching by the lake and by land — 
an army of six thousand veterans, furnished with 
fine artillery and elated by an easy success. While 
Frazer and Riedesel were working southward 
through the woods on the trail of St. Clair, Bur- 
goyne with the rest of his army advanced in the 
same direction by the lake. Within two days after 
Schuyler had reached Fort Edward, twenty miles 
south of Lake George, the enemy was at Skeensbor- 
ough, east of the lake, and rapidly approaching Fort 
George at Its head. On July loth, two days before 

195 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

St. Clair arrived, Burgoyne's army was distant from 
Schuyler only twenty miles. 

In the neighborhood south of Lake George were 
three so-called forts, but rather fortified store- 
houses: Fort George at the head of the lake, Fort 
Anne to the southeast, and Fort Edward twenty 
miles south on the east bank of the Hudson. The 
latter was the largest and the best protected, but 
yet was not to be considered defencible against 
such an army as Burgoyne's. The Marquis de 
Chastellux, who visited it soon after, said that it 
could be taken easily by five hundred men with four 
siege guns. Forts George and Anne were depots 
for stores with small garrisons to guard them. 
Schuyler burned these two forts, added their garri- 
sons to that of Fort Edward, and removed the 
stores to the same place. He thus secured a supply 
of provisions ample for his small army at present, 
and concentrated all his men in his strongest posi- 
tion. The problem of getting provisions was al- 
ready becoming serious for Burgoyne and British 
detachments soon after attacked Forts George and 
Anne only to find them empty. The news that these 
two positions had been abandoned was received at 
Philadelphia with unjust and ignorant blame, 
Schuyler, it was said, had given up two more forts 
to the British. Instead of which he had saved the 
provisions from two store-houses. 

Schuyler's correspondence at this juncture shows 
196 



HIS MEASURES FOR DEFENCE 

constantly his appreciation of the most important 
work before him, of the only military policy which 
could avert defeat. That policy was to delay the 
British advance. If Burgoyne could continue his 
rapid progress southward there was no force now 
between him and Albany capable of preventing his 
arrival there. But time must bring re-enforcements 
to the American army. When the people of the 
river counties of New York and Western New Eng- 
land reahzed that Burgoyne with his German mer- 
cenaries and Indians was actually upon them, they 
would leave their fields and homes and help defend 
them. Assistance, too, would surely come from the 
Continental army near New York. Besides, and 
quite as important a fact, Schuyler realized that the 
longer Burgoyne was delayed the more impossible 
would it be for him to keep his army in provisions. 
What he possessed he had brought from Canada 
and captured at Ticonderoga. But the supply was 
limited; it could not last long. The great dis- 
tance from his base in Canada made that resource 
impracticable. Moreover, his communication with 
that base, through the long stretch of devious water- 
way and forest, could be, and before long was, cut 
off. The evacuation of Ticonderoga and the pos- 
session of boats on the lake had made it easy for the 
British to reach Fort George, only twenty miles 
from their insignificant enemy. But Schuyler knew 
so well the physical geography of those twenty miles 

197 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

that he felt able to hold off Burgoyne for a long 
time. The land was covered by heavy forest, and 
Intersected by streams which formed frequent 
swamps. Several roads existed, rough, but practi- 
cable. Schuyler sent a thousand men up these roads 
with axes. The trees were cut on either side so that 
they fell across each other, with trunks and branches 
intersecting, till a tangle was formed which a man 
could hardly penetrate. Every bridge was de- 
stroyed and the streams choked with fallen trees. 
The success of Schuyler's operations was shown by 
the fact that while the British army had been only 
four days from Ticonderoga to the head of Lake 
George, they required twenty days of the hard- 
est work to reach Fort Edward, only twenty miles 
further. And these twenty days were of decisive 
importance. They gave to the American re-enforce- 
ments the time to collect. And they saw the begin- 
ning of Burgoyne's fatal difficulty, the want of sub- 
sistence for his men. 

Although Schuyler's prompt action m this emer- 
gency had obtained the delay so vital to the Ameri- 
can cause, the situation at Fort Edward might well 
have seemed hopeless. While he sought to en- 
courage the army by promises of speedy help, he 
could not conceal from Congress and from Wash- 
ington the true state of affairs. " Desertions pre- 
vail," he wrote to the latter, " and disease gains 
ground; nor is it to be wondered at, for we have 



CONDITION OF HIS ARMY 

neither tents, houses, barns, boards, or any shelter, 
except a little brush. Every rain that falls — and 
we have It In great abundance — wets the men to the 
skin. We are besides In great want of every kind 
of necessaries, provisions excepted. Camp kettles 
we have so few that we cannot afford above one to 
twenty men." There were thirty pieces of cannon 
In the fort, but no carriages for them. Nixon had 
brought up two from Peeksklll, which formed the 
available artillery in case of a movement. " I have 
Indeed written to Springfield," continued Schuyler, 
" for the cannon which were there. But the an- 
swer I got was that they were all ordered another 
way. I have also written to Boston, not that I 
expect anything will be sent me, but that I may 
stand justified; for I have never yet been able to 
get much of anything from thence. In this situa- 
tion I can only look up to your Excellency for re- 
lief; and permit me to entreat you to send me a re- 
enforcement of troops and such a supply of artillery, 
ammunition, and every other necessary (except pro- 
visions and powder) which an army ought to have, 
if It can possibly be spared." 

Washington replied that to detach any consider- 
able number of men from his own army would be 
to weaken himself too much. Howe's troops were 
partly embarked upon the fleet off Staten Island, 
whether to ascend the Hudson to Burgoyne's assist- 
ance or to proceed southward could not be learned. 

199 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Howe might suddenly re-la-nd, and Washington must 
watch him with all the force at his command. The 
most that he could do at present was to hold Glov- 
er's brigade in readiness to march northward If cir- 
cumstances permitted. 

But he was able to assist Schuyler In another way. 
The latter had written regarding the desertions 
which were weakening the army at Fort Edward. 
Some of these were due to the privations endured 
since the loss of Ticonderoga. But another cause 
contributed much to the depletion of the army. It 
was nearly harvest time. The militia were anxious 
to return home to gather crops; they were unwilling 
to make sacrifices for a colony not their own, and 
the terms of enlistment were too loose to hold them. 
As they were resolved to go, Schuyler made the best 
terms he could by obtaining the promise that one- 
half would remain for three weeks longer If the 
other half were discharged. Bancroft blames 
Schuyler for this action, saying: "There could be 
no hope of a successful campaign, but with the 
hearty co-operation of New England; yet Schuyler 
gave leave for one-half of its militia to go home at 
once, and the rest to follow in three weeks." The 
Injustice of this blame Is shown by Schuyler's own 
account of the event to the Committee of Safety 
of New York: " It was evident that if we had not 
consented to suffer part of the militia to return to 
their habitations, we should have lost the whole. It 

200 



DEFECTION OF MILITIA 

was therefore resolved, in full council of general 
officers, that half should be permitted to leave us, 
provided the others would remain three weeks. 
These conditions were accepted by them, and one 
thousand and forty-six, officers included, of the 
militia of this State remained; but not above three 
hundred out of twelve of those from the county of 
Berkshire, in the State of Massachusetts; and out 
of about five hundred from the county of Hamp- 
shire, in the same State, only twenty-nine commis- 
sioned and non-commissioned officers and thirty-four 
privates are left, the remainder having infamously 
deserted." Gouverneur Morris, present at the time, 
wrote thus regarding the desertions of the militia: 
" Three hundred of the mihtia of Massachusetts 
Bay went off this morning, in spite of the opposi- 
tion — we should have said entreaties — of their offi- 
cers. All the militia on the ground are so heartily 
tired, and so extremely desirous of getting home, 
that it is more than probable that none of them will 
remain here ten days longer. One-half was dis- 
charged two days ago, to silence, if possible, their 
clamor, and the remainder, officers excepted, will 
soon discharge themselves." The militia who re- 
mained were restless, and their promised three weeks 
of service of little help. In this difficulty Schuyler 
asked Washington for one or two general officers. 
New England men, who would have influence in 
holding the New England troops already there, and 

201 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

who might recruit others. Washington sent Gen- 
erals Arnold and Lincoln. They were both popu- 
lar among Eastern troops, and proved of the high- 
est value. 

As Washington could not send continental troops 
to Schuyler, he did his best to procure militia for 
him. To the brigadier-generals of militia in west- 
ern Massachusetts and Connecticut he wrote, point- 
ing out the danger to New England should Bur- 
goyne be successful, and the calamity involved in 
the threatened division of the Eastern from the 
Southern States. " It cannot be supposed," he said, 
" that the small number of continental troops as- 
sembled at Fort Edward is alone sufficient to check 
the progress of the enemy. To the militia, there- 
fore, must we look for support during this time of 
trial; and I trust that you will, immediately upon 
the receipt of this, if you have not done it before, 
march with at least one-third part of the militia 
under your command, and rendezvous at Saratoga, 
unless directed to some other place by General 
Schuyler and General Arnold, who, so well known 
to you all, goes up, at my request, to take command 
of the militia in particular. I have no doubt that 
you will, under his conduct and direction, repel an 
enemy from your borders who, not content with 
bringing mercenaries to lay waste your country, have 
now brought savages, with the avowed and express 
intent of adding murder to desolation." To this 

202 



INVASION OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY 

appeal of Washington response was made, slowly 
at first, but increasing as the danger became more 
widely understood. Schuyler had to face Burgoyne 
with his small and waning force for three weeks be- 
fore he could even know that substantial help was 
on its way. 

But not only was Burgoyne to be faced; provision 
must be made against the invasion of the Mohawk 
Valley, and the courage of the people must be kept 
up. The Committee of Tryon County and the in- 
habitants of western New York, instead of taking 
their own measures and arranging for their own 
defence, kept applying to Schuyler for the protection 
of continental troops, of which he had so few him- 
self. " I am sorry, very sorry," he wrote to them, 
" that you should be calling upon me for assistance 
of continental troops when I have already spared 
you all I could; when no army has yet made its ap- 
pearance; when the militia of every county in the 
State except yours is altogether called out. For 
God's sake do not forget that you are an over-match 
for any force the enmy can bring against you, if 
you will act with spirit. I have a large army to 
oppose, and trust I can do it effectually, and prevent 
their penetrating to any distance into the country. 
Keep up your spirits; show no signs of fear; act 
with vigor; and you will not only serve your coun- 
try, but gain immortal honor." To General Herki- 
mer, in command of the Tryon County militia, he 

203 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

wrote: "We must oppose the enemy where they 
show themselves; that is here at present; and al- 
though Ticonderoga Is abandoned, I am neverthe- 
less not afraid that they will be able to get much 
lower Into the country. Keep up the spirits of the 
people, and all will be well." At the end of July 
he replied to a discouraged appeal from the Com- 
mittee of Safety at Albany: "When an enemy 
threatens to Invade a country, alarms, real or false, 
arise in every quarter. Some of these are created 
by the fears of good subjects, whilst others are 
propagated by friends of the enemy. Schoharie 
may labor under apprehensions that have arisen in 
one or the other of these ways, or from some real 
cause. I will at present admit the latter; but is 
that reason sufficient for free men to lay down their 
arms — Ignobly submit to the enemy, and betray 
their own, their posterity's, and their country's dear- 
est rights to a cruel and relentless enemy, whose 
greatest strength consists not In their numbers, but 
in our apprehensions? Let not a base or womanish 
timidity take place of that prowess which but a little 
while ago was so conspicuous. Let the Inhabitants of 
Schoharie determine to repulse the enemy, if they 
should attempt an attack. Let them hunt after and 
seize every Tory in their vicinity, and let a few gen- 
tlemen from Albany who are acquainted with the 
people in that quarter go into that district and revive 

204 



WASHINGTON AND HOWE 

the spirits of the people; but never let them talk of 
submission." 

Washington, who had been watching Howe so 
long and anxiously, at last knew that the latter was 
bound for Philadelphia, and therefore that place 
must be his own destination with all the men at his 
command. Regarding the continental troops at 
Peekskill, he wrote to Governor Trumbull: "No 
more can be detached from thence to the Northern 
army than have already gone. Two brigades, 
Nixon's and Glover's, have been ordered from 
thence to their aid. Not a man more can go, as 
all the Continental troops at that post, excepting 
two thousand, are called to join this arniy. For I 
am to inform you that General Howe's object and 
operations no longer remain a secret. At half after 
nine o'clock this morning I received an express from 
Congress, advising me that the enemy's fleet, con- 
sisting of two hundred and twenty-eight sail, were 
at the capes of the Delaware yesterday in the fore- 
noon. This being the case, there can be no doubt 
that he will make a vigorous push to possess Phila- 
delphia, and we should collect all the forces we can 
to oppose him." To Schuyler he wrote that he 
could send no troops except those under Glover. 
But he felt sure that " the New England States, 
which are so intimately concerned in the matter, 
will exert themselves to throw in effectual succors to 
enable you to check the progress of the enemy, and 

205 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

repel a danger with which they are so Immediately 
threatened." Thus the main reliance of Schuyler 
for men must be on the New England mllltla. They 
were so distant and so scattered, and the means of 
communication were so slow, that none could tell 
in what numbers nor at what day they might be 
expected. 

On July 27th the advance of the British under 
General Fraser was announced by scouts to be near 
Fort Edward, where It had arrived after three 
weeks of cutting through Schuyler's obstructions. 
Whether or not to defend this position was now the 
question. Schuyler heard from Philadelphia that 
his enemies there were talking about Fort Edward 
as a strong place, which if abandoned would be con- 
sidered a repetition of Ticonderoga. " I find from 
letters from below," he wrote to Washington on 
the 26th, " that an Idea prevails that Fort Edward 
is a strong and regular fortification. It was once 
a regular fortification, but there Is nothing but the 
ruins of It left, and they are so utterly defenceless 
that I have frequently gallopped my horse In at one 
side and out at the other. But when it was in the 
best condition possible, with the best troops to gar- 
rison it, and provided with every necessary, it would 
not have stood two days' siege after the proper bat- 
teries had been opened. It is situated in a bottom 
on the banks of the river, and surrounded with hills 

206 



THE ARMY AT STILLWATER 

from which the parade may be seen within point- 
blank shot. I doubt not that it will be said that 
Fort Miller, Fort Saratoga, and Stillwater are con- 
siderable fortifications, of neither of which is there 
a trace left, although they still retain their names." 
Generals Arnold and Lincoln were now with Schuy- 
ler. A council of war, at which all the general offi- 
cers were present, decided unanimously that no stand 
could be made at Fort Edward, which was never 
Intended to resist an enemy with artillery. Further, 
that the army should cross the Hudson and take 
position on a high ground out of the forest, near 
Stillwater or Saratoga. This move was made im- 
mediately, Arnold accompanying Schuyler, while 
Lincoln went to the eastward into Vermont to rouse 
the militia there, some of whom were already col- 
lected under General Warner. By July 31st the 
American army had camped on a hill near Still- 
water, about thirty miles north of Albany, while 
Burgoyne's army had occupied Fort Edward and 
spread southward along the west bank of the 
Hudson. 

On August 5th Schuyler wrote to Washington: 
" By the unanimous advice of all the general officers, 
I have moved the army to this place. Here we pro- 
pose to fortify a camp. In expectation that re- 
enforcements will enable us to keep the ground and 
prevent the enemy from penetrating further Into 
the country. But If It should be asked from whence 

207 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

I expect re-enforcement, I should be at a loss for an 
answer, not having heard a word from Massa- 
chusetts on my repeated application, nor am I cer- 
tain that Connecticut will afford us any succor. 
Our Continental force is daily decreasing by deser- 
tion, sickness, and loss in skirmishes with the enemy, 
and not a man in the militia now with me will re- 
main above one week longer, and while our force is 
diminishing, that of the enemy augments by a con- 
stant acquisition of Tories; but if by any means we 
could be put in a situation of attacking the enemy 
and giving them a repulse, their retreat would be 
so extremely difficult that, in all probability, they 
would lose the greater part of their army." This 
was the darkest moment of the campaign. Events 
were about to occur which would strengthen the 
Americans and weaken the British. Although 
Schuyler could not know it, New England was gath- 
ering and sending the men whom he needed so much. 



208 



Chapter VII. 

British Defeats at Bennington and in the Mohawk 
Valley. — Bright Prospects of the Ameri- 
can Army. — Schuyler Superseded by 
Gates. — Saratoga. — Last Services 
During the War. 

WHILE Schuyler was at Stillwater recruit- 
ing and organizing his army, Burgoyne 
remained on the east bank of the Hudson. 
As Schuyler had anticipated, every day of delay was 
favoring the Americans, while the British were get- 
ting deeper and deeper into difficulty. 

Their first embarrassment was caused by the In- 
dians. Burgoyne had disliked the employment of 
such allies, but his orders on the subject were positive. 
The speech by which he had sought to establish among 
savages the rules of civilized warfare had been, of 
course, fruitless. They burned and murdered on the 
line of march without discriminating between loyalist 
and rebel, and thus sent many indignant waverers into 
the American camp. They robbed the commissary 
stores, wasted the provisions, and defied all discipline. 
At the end of July an Incident occurred which turned 
the Indian alliance into a boomerang. A marauding 

209 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

party of savages, under a chief called the Panther, 
captured near Fort Edward the young daughter of a 
Scotch clergyman named Jeanie McCrea, who was 
visiting the house of a Mrs. McNeil. Both women 
were loyalists, and Jeanie was engaged to a Tory 
officer In the British army. The Indians were taking 
their captives toward the British camp when, being 
pursued by a party of Americans, they became sepa- 
rated. Mrs. McNeil arrived In safety. But there 
was no news of Jeanie until the next day, when the 
Panther appeared bearing a scalp which, from the 
long hair attached to it, Mrs. McNeil recognized as 
belonging to her unfortunate companion. A search 
revealed the body in the forest, pierced by three bul- 
lets. Various stories were told of how the young 
woman came to her death. But the exact circumstances 
were immaterial. Great Indignation was aroused in 
the British camp, and Burgoyne was the last man to 
endure such enormities. He Issued a strict order that 
no party of Indians should be allowed to pass out of 
the lines unless accompanied by an English officer. 
The savages, already restless, became enraged at this 
order. That night, after loading themselves with 
all the provisions they could carry, they decamped, 
scattering into the Adirondacks. Burgoyne thus lost 
a body of men who, however troublesome, might have 
proved of great assistance as scouts. But the loss of 
the Indians was only a part of the damage caused by 
the murder of Jeanie McCrea. The story of her 

210 



BURGOYNE'S DIFFICULTIES 

fate spread far, angering patriots and loyalists alike, 
bringing home to all the realities of war. Great was 
the effect in New England. There the people were 
slow to rouse. They were busy with their harvest; 
the British army was attacking another and a little- 
liked colony. There was a disposition to let New 
York and the Continentals take care of Burgoyne. 
But the story of the Panther striding into the British 
camp swinging the long hair of a murdered American 
girl recruited the ranks and quickened the steps of 
every militia company in Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut. 

Burgoyne's next and very serious difficulty was to 
procure provisions for his men. The roads from 
Ticonderoga were almost impassable, and besides, he 
had neither the wagons nor horses for transportation. 
His reliance on foraging had proved quite vain. As 
the army advanced the people fled, driving their cattle 
before them. The Tories, instead of giving the ex- 
pected assistance, came into camp to be supported, 
adding a new embarrassment of mouths to feed. In 
this emergency Burgoyne listened readily to Major 
Skene, a loyalist, who told him that the New England 
mlhtia had collected a quantity of horses, ammuni- 
tion, and provisions at a village called Bennington, in 
the Hampshire Grants, which they intended as a point 
of distribution for the troops then recruiting. To 
capture Bennington, therefore, would mean to the 
British not only a supply of provisions for present 

211 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

needs, and horses to convey their own supplies from 
the north, but also a severe blow to the New England 
forces which Burgoyne knew to be gathering in his 
rear. 

To accomplish this important object, Colonel Baum 
was sent off with five hundred Germans and a hundred 
Indians who had just arrived from Canada. Colonel 
Skene had assured Burgoyne that on the appearance 
of this force Tories in large numbers would join it; 
so he was sent too, with other loyalist officers, to com- 
mand the expected accessions. But Baum had been 
hardly a day on his march when the actions of the 
inhabitants convinced him that no help could be ex- 
pected from that source, and he wrote to Burgoyne 
for re-enforcement. The British commander des- 
patched Colonel Breyman, with five hundred more 
Germans and two cannon. They were most inappro- 
priate troops for a purpose requiring rapidity and 
enterprise. The hat and sword of a Hessian dragoon 
weighed nearly as much as the whole equipment of an 
English soldier, and the men were so little accustomed 
to lay aside their habits of discipline that while march- 
ing through thick woods they would stop evei*y ten 
minutes to re-form their ranks. With such slow prog- 
ress, the Americans had ample warning and time to 
prepare. 

The action at this time of the New England militia 
and of their commander, General Stark, is a good 
illustration of the peculiarities of these soldiers, of 

212 



THE NEW ENGLAND MILITIA 

their splendid qualities as defenders of their own 
homes, and of their uncertain usefulness in a regular 
army. General Stark was a veteran of the French 
and Indian War; he had fought at Bunker's Hill, 
and had served as a continental officer with Washing- 
ton at Trenton and Princeton. But in recent promo- 
tions Congress had passed him over, and he had 
retired in disgust to his Hampshire home. When 
Burgoyne's invasion was in progress, and General 
Lincoln was mustering in troops at Manchester, he 
conveyed to Stark the orders of Schuyler to join the 
main army at Stillwater. Stark flatly refused, alleg- 
ing that he owed allegiance only to his native State 
of New Hampshire, and that it was "his option to 
act in conjunction with the continental army or not." 
Lincoln wrote to Schuyler: "Whether he will march 
his troops to Stillwater or not, I am quite at a loss to 
know. But if he doth, it is a fixed point with him to 
act there as a separate corps, and take no orders from 
any officer in the northern department, saving your 
honor." When Congress heard of the attitude of 
Stark, it declared it to be "destructive of military 
subordination, and highly prejudicial to the common 
cause." Schuyler wrote at once to Lincoln: "You 
will please to assure General Stark . . . that 
I trust and entreat that he will, on the present alarm- 
ing crisis, waive his right; as the greater the sacrifice 
he makes to his feelings, the greater will be the honor 
due to him, for not having suffered any consideration 

213 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

to come in competition with the weal of his country, 
and I entreat him to march immediately to this 
army." How much this provincial jealousy added 
to the difficulties of Schuyler's position is plain to see. 
He had a great invasion to repel. He had to rely 
for men almost entirely on volunteer militia from 
neighboring colonies. But he had to beg instead of 
to command. Whether the militia would come, or 
in what numbers, could not be definitely known ; and 
if they came, the length of time that they would 
remain was equally uncertain. Under such circum- 
stances, to make plans, to map out a campaign, was 
nearly impossible. But when Baum was known to 
be approaching Bennington with his Germans, there 
was no uncertainty regarding the action of Stark and 
his militia. The men who refused to join Lincoln's 
continental army at Manchester to fight in New York 
were eager to serve with Stark as a partisan officer 
and repel the foreign mercenaries who dared to at- 
tack their native colony. 

On August 15th, Baum arrived at Bennington with 
his dragoons and Indians and entrenched himself to 
wait for Breyman and the re-enforcement. But that 
purpose he was not allowed to attain. The next 
morning Stark and a thousand provincials had sur- 
rounded him. Five hundred rustic marksmen poured 
in a fire on his flanks and rear while Stark charged 
with the rest of his men. The Indians ran off yelling 
into the woods, and in two hours Baum had been 

214 



THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON 

killed and his Gennans captured. The Americans 
were busy plundering the enemy's camp when Brey- 
man arrived with his five hundred Hessians, and 
might have turned the tables. But Colonel Warner 
came up at about the same time with fresh provin- 
cials. Breyman was assailed on all sides and was 
glad to escape with sixty men, leaving all the rest 
either killed or prisoners. These sixty were all that 
ever returned to Burgoyne out of the thousand which 
he had sent. One-seventh of the army which he had 
brought from Canada was lost with all the arms and 
four cannon. And the prospect of drawing provisions 
from the country was destroyed. This victory, so 
discouraging to the British, was of immense benefit 
to the Americans. All western New England was 
fired by It. No more was heard of reluctance to serve 
in another colony, nor of officers unwilling to take 
orders from continental generals. Lincoln's army at 
Manchester and Stark's at Bennington grew rapidly 
and were soon marching to join Schuyler at Still- 
water. 

Another disaster now befell Burgoyne in the 
destruction of the army which was to invade the 
Mohawk Valley and to join him at Albany. On July 
15th, St. Leger landed at Oswego on Lake Ontario, 
where he was joined by Sir John Johnson with his 
Royal Greens, Colonel Butler with his Tories, and a 
body of Indians under Joseph Brant. The expedi- 
tion, about seventeen hundred strong, took the old 

215 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

fur trade route, up the Onandaga River, through 
Oneida Lake, and over the long carry to Fort Stan- 
wix or Schuyler, which stood at the head of the 
Mohawk River. On August 3d, St. Leger had in- 
vested the fort and summoned it to surrender. But 
its gallant commander. Colonel Peter Gansevoort, 
sent back a message of defiance. 

When General Nicholas Herkimer of Tryon 
County heard that Fort Schuyler was besieged, he 
gathered his militia and marched to the rescue. On 
August 5th he was at Oriskany, on the Mohawk, 
eight miles below the fort. Here he made a plan of 
operations, and messengers were sent ahead to com- 
municate it to Colonel Gansevoort within the fort. 
The plan was that Herkimer should march up and 
attack St. Leger from the rear at the same time that 
the garrison made a sally upon his front. The signal 
for concerted action was to be given by three guns 
from the fort. Unfortunately the messengers had 
so much difficulty in getting into the fort that they 
were delayed in communicating the plan. When the 
expected time for the attack arrived, the three guns 
were not heard at Oriskany. Herkimer wished to 
wait. But some of his officers accused him of 
treachery or cowardice and insisted on an advance. 
Against his better judgment, Herkimer yielded and 
led his men up the river bank. But his presence at 
Oriskany had been reported by some of St. Leger's 
Indians. A strong force of Royal Greens and 

216 



BATTLE OF ORISKANY 

Mohawks had been posted in ambuscade in the forest. 
In this trap Herkimer's men were soon caught. A 
fierce hand-to-hand battle ensued, the most bloody of 
the Revolution. Herkimer, with a leg shattered by a 
bullet, sat on a stump and gave orders while smoking 
his pipe. His men fought with such fury that finally 
the Indians fled and the Royal Greens soon followed. 
But the Americans, although victorious in holding 
the ground, had suffered such losses that they could 
do no more than carry their wounded back to Oris- 
kany, leaving the garrison at the fort to take care of 
itself. 

When Herkimer's messengers made their way into 
the fort, the sounds of the distant battle could be 
heard. Gansevoort understood the situation, fired 
his three guns, and made an impetuous sally. Sir 
John Johnson's men, taken by surprise, were driven 
across the river. Gansevoort looted the British camp, 
loading seven wagons with booty, including all Sir 
John's papers. Five British flags were taken, which 
Gansevoort raised on his fort with an improvised 
American flag hoisted above them. The result of 
the two fights was greatly in favor of the Americans. 
St. Leger still kept up his siege of Fort Schuyler. 
But his losses at Oriskany were severe, and the suc- 
cessful sortie of the garrison so affected his prestige 
that the Indians became insolent and rebellious. Un- 
able to take the fort before, his prospects were now 
much worse. 

217 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Colonel Gansevoort, although so far successful and 
resolved to defend Fort Schuyler to the last extremity, 
feared that St. Leger might receive re-enforce- 
ments or that he might be able In time to starve out 
the garrison. From the battered force at Orlskany 
there was no hope of further assistance. Hence 
Gansevoort sought for It from Schuyler. Colonel 
Marlnus Willett, who had led the late gallant sortie, 
stole out of the fort with one companion, with Infinite 
skill and labor passed St. Leger's lines, reached 
Schuyler's camp at Stillwater, and asked him to re- 
heve the fort. Schuyler then knew unofficially that 
Congress had superseded him, but he was working 
none the less hard In the Interest of the country. He 
called a council of war to determine means to relieve 
the fort. He told the assembled officers that It was 
of the utmost Importance to destroy St. Leger's force 
at once. If the fort were taken, the Mohawk Valley 
would be at the mercy of the British, and a large 
detachment of the army would be needed In that 
quarter. If St. Leger could be driven off now, while 
Burgoyne was quiet on the other side of the Hudson, 
there would remain but one enemy to face, against 
whom all the American forces could be concentrated'. 
Several officers spoke In opposition, alleging that the 
army then present was too weak to meet Burgoyne, 
and objecting to any detachment. Schuyler was walk- 
ing the floot in anxious reflection when he overheard 
the whispered remark of one of the officers: "He 

;!i8 



RELIEF OF FORT SCHUYLER 

means to weaken the army." This remark, a repeti- 
tion of the ceaseless accusations of treachery made 
against him since the fall of Ticonderoga, angered 
him so that he bit in two the pipe which he held in 
his mouth. He turned upon the council, saying: 
"Gentlemen, I shall take the responsibility upon my- 
self. Where is the brigadier that will take command 
of the relief? I shall beat up for volunteers to- 
morrow." Arnold, soured by the neglect of Con- 
gress, but always ready for a deed of daring, offered 
at once to go. 

The next morning, in response to Schuyler's call, 
eight hundred men joined Arnold and set off up the 
Mohawk. When arrived at the German Flatts, 
twenty miles below the fort, Arnold resorted to a 
stratagem to encourage the garrison and to intimidate 
the enemy. A half-witted fellow, named Jan Jost, 
and his brother, both well-known Tories, had been 
captured. Arnold threatened to hang them both, 
and then offered to Jan Jost his own and his brother's 
life if he would spread the news at the fort of a large 
force advancing to its relief. Jan arrived at St. 
Leger's camp with bullet holes through his coat and 
apparently overcome by terror. He was known to be 
a violent Tory, and when he described the coming 
enemy as numerous as the leaves upon the trees, he 
was readily believed. St. Leger had a motley force 
composed of British, Indians, Canadians and Ameri- 
can Tories. They were bound together more by the 

219 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

hope of plunder and scalps than by a common senti- 
ment or military discipline. The fight at Oriskany, 
where many Indians had been killed, left the savages 
in bad humor, and the successful sortie of the gar- 
rison had injured the prestige of St. Leger and Sir 
John Johnson. Demoralization had already begun. 
When Jan Jost arrived with his discouraging news, 
the Indians made up their minds that there was no 
profit in the business for them. They seized some 
barrels of rum, got very dnmk and ran amuck 
through the camp. A free fight was kept up all night. 
The next morning St. Leger and Sir John had lost 
all control. They retreated, abandoning everything 
in the camp. The garrison sallied forth and pursued 
for a time. Many of the invaders were lost in the 
forest and many shot by the Indians, who cared 
little from whose heads they took their scalps. It 
was a very small band that embarked at Oswego for 
Canada with Sir John Johnson and St. Leger. The 
great expedition which had terrified the Mohawk Val- 
ley, which had given so much anxiety to Schuyler and 
upon which Burgoyne depended as an important part 
of his plan, thus melted away; and Arnold returned 
without loss to the main army. 

Looking at the situations of Burgoyne and of 
Schuyler after the battle of Bennington and the 
retreat of St. Leger, it is evident that the tables were 
turned. Burgoyne had taken Ticonderoga without 
loss and had advanced to the Hudson River with a 

220 



DISCOURAGEMENT OF BURGOYNE 

flourish of trumpets; and King George at the news 
had rushed into the Queen's room, exclaiming tri- 
umphantly, "I have beat them; I have beat all the 
Americans." But Schuyler had prevented Burgoyne 
from reaching Fort Edward until the 30th of July, 
and now, three weeks later, the British general was 
still on the same ground, beset by difficulties and 
uncertain what course to pursue. At the news from 
Bennington and Fort Schuyler, the Tories and Cana- 
dians began to drop off. If he once left his com- 
munication with Lake George, he would have no 
means of getting provisions. The assistance which 
he had been led to believe would be given by the 
loyalist population turned out to be a dream. "The 
great bulk of the country," he wrote home, "is un- 
doubtedly with the Congress in principle and zeal, 
and their measures are executed with a secrecy and 
despatch that are not to be equalled. . . . The 
Hampshire Grants, in particular, a country unpeo- 
pled and almost unknown last war, now abounds in 
the most active and rebellious race on the con- 
tinent, and hangs like a gathering storm on my left." 
He had been obliged to leave a large force at Ticon- 
deroga to protect his rear; a thousand of his men 
were lost at Bennington; St. Leger was gone; from 
Sir William Howe nothing could be heard. How he 
iwas to provision his army when he left his communi- 
cation with Lake George, he could not tell. There 
could be no re-enforcement for him, while he knew 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

that his enemy's army was growing every day. Yet 
positive orders compelled an advance. Concerning 
his situation at this time, he wrote afterwards: "The 
expedition which I commanded was at first evidently 
intended to be hazarded; circumstances might require 
it should be devoted^ Burgoyne was already a 
beaten man, and every day made his position worse. 
"I do not despair," he wrote. "Should I succeed 
in forcing my way to Albany and find that country 
in a state to subsist my army, I shall think no more 
of a retreat, but, at the worst, fortify there, and await 
Sir William's operations." It was not until the 13th 
of September, nearly a month later, that he had 
gathered enough provisions to enable him to cross 
the Hudson. 

On the other hand, Schuyler's army was growing 
in strength and confidence. It was stationed on the 
west bank of the Hudson about thirty miles below 
the British, from Stillwater to the mouth of the 
Mohawk. It had been re-enforced by General Put- 
nam's regiment from Peekskill and by Morgan's 
riflemen. Volunteers were arriving In small groups 
every day. Lincoln wrote that he was on his way 
with two thousand men from the Hampshire Grants; 
Stark, that he was coming with the victors of Ben- 
nington. Arnold was returning from the Mohawk, 
not only with his own detachment, but with a large 
body of militia whose services were no longer needed 
to defend the West. The whole country was aroused. 

222 



SUPERSEDED BY GATES 

With an enemy approaching and fighting imminent, 
every man was ready to leave his farm and carry a 
rifle into the continental camp. Schuyler was sure 
of ten thousand men. The dark days of uncertainty 
had gone and a bright prospect was opening. 

At this juncture, on the 19th of August, General 
Gates arrived in the American camp bearing a com- 
mission as commander-in-chief of the northern de- 
partment. 

The causes which brought about this change of 
commanders are to be found partly in inter-colonial 
prejudice and partly in the selfish Intrigues of General 
Gates. Immediately after the evacuation of Ticon- 
deroga, the New England delegates in Congress re- 
newed their campaign to substitute Gates for 
Schuyler, which had been defeated the previous 
month. They secured the support of southern mem- 
bers, who, discouraged by that disaster, were ready 
for a change; and they had the assistance of Gates 
himself, who had been pushing his own Interests at 
Philadelphia while Schuyler was facing Burgoyne at 
Fort Edward. On the 29th of July It was resolved 
that an investigation should be made of the evacua- 
tion of Ticonderoga. But as it speedily became 
known that St. Clair accepted full responsibility for 
that event, and the justification for it was recognized, 
another ground for action had to be found. This 
was that the New England militia disliked Schuyler 
and would not join the northern army while he was 

223 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

in command. On August ist, Congress recalled 
Schuyler and asked Washington to appoint a new 
general-in-chief. A memorial in the handwriting of 
Samuel Adams and signed by all the New England 
delegates, requested him to appoint Gates. Wash- 
ington, who had seen enough of Gates, refused to 
interfere and left the matter in the hands of Con- 
gress. On August 5th Gates received his appoint- 
ment. 

Governeur Morris and John Jay had gone to 
Philadelphia to represent to Congress the situation 
in the north, but arrived the day after Gates's ap- 
pointment. Morris wrote to Schuyler: "You will 
readily believe that we were not pleased at this 
resolution, and I assure you for my own part I feel 
exceedingly distressed at your removal, just when 
changing fortune began to declare in your favor. 
Congress, I hope, will perceive that our successes 
have been owing to the judicious plans adopted pre- 
vious to your removal." Jay wrote him: "Wash- 
ington and Congress were assured that unless another 
general presided in the northern department the 
militia of New England would not be brought into 
the field. The Congress, under this apprehension, 
exchanged their general for the militia — a bargain 
which can receive no justification from the supposed 
necessity of the times." James Duane wrote : "Your 
enemies, relentless, and bent on your destruction, 
would willingly include you in the odium of losing 

224 



CAUSES OF HIS REMOVAL 

TIconderoga. The change of command was not, 
however, founded on this principle, but merely on 
the representation of the Eastern States that their 
militia, suspicious of your military character, would 
not turn out in defence of New York while you pre- 
sided in the northern department." 

The reason for superseding Schuyler which was 
urged by the New England delegates was a serious 
accusation for them to make against their own people. 
Generals Lincoln, Putnam, Stark and Arnold, who 
were the officers under whom the New England 
militia would actually serve, were all New England 
men and all popular with eastern troops. To say 
that under these leaders of their own they would not 
rally to defend their country against the British, the 
Germans and the savages who were invading it, while 
Schuyler remained commander-in-chief, was to accuse 
them of a lack of patriotism, of a narrowness and 
intensity of prejudice which would have made them 
little deserving of consideration. But the accusation 
was false and so proved by the facts. When the 
knowledge that Burgoyne's army was penetrating 
southward reached the scattered settlements of west- 
ern New England, when it was realized that a great 
fight was imminent, the militia flocked to the stand- 
ards of Lincoln and Stark. The murder of Jeanie 
McCrea came like an alarm bell to call them to 
action. The victory at Bennington filled them with 
confidence and enthusiasm. Long before Gates's 

225 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

appointment was known In the north, the eastern 
mlHtIa was marching to join Schuyler. By the time 
Gates arrived, and he brought with him the first 
definite news of his appointment, Schuyler had in 
camp, or known to be approaching It, an army of ten 
thousand men. 

Of course, a strong prejudice against each other 
existed between tne colonies of New England and 
New York. An amusing instance of it Is given In the 
will of Lewis Morris of Morrlsania, who wrote in 
1762: "It Is my desire that my son, Gouverneur 
Morris, may have the best education that Is to be 
had in Europe or America, but my express will and 
directions are, that he be never sent for that purpose 
to the Colony of Connecticut, least he should Imbibe 
in his youth that low craft and cunning so Incident 
to the people of that country, which Is so interwoven 
in their constitutions, that all their art cannot disguise 
It from the world, though many of them under the 
sanctified garb of religion, have endeavored to Impose 
themselves on the world for honest men." On the 
other hand, democratic New England disliked aris- 
tocratic New York. That Schuyler was of Dutch 
descent, and that he had supported the claim of New 
York to the Hampshire Grants, were sufficient causes 
for the early prejudice against him. This feeling 
was Increased by Schuyler's attempt to Introduce the 
military disclphne which he had learned In the British 
army during the French war, and which was in ac- 

226 



THE NEW ENGLAND MILITIA 

cordance with the Dutch spirit of order and system 
which was an essential part of his character and of 
his success In private life. 

But military discipline was unendurable to these 
Independent, self-reliant New Englanders. They re- 
garded It as tyranny and aristocratic assumption. 
That they w^t not allowed to help themselves to 
commissary stores at will, that they were subjected to 
sanitary regulations, that they were constrained to 
a silent obedience, were regarded as so many en- 
croachments on their liberties. They enlisted only 
for short periods, and considered themselves free to 
join the army or to leave It as they pleased. All this 
was galling to Schuyler, whose temper was by no 
means easy. These remarks apply to eastern men 
when employed as militia, not when acting as con- 
tinental soldiers. It Is well known that the New 
England portion of the continental army was Its very 
backbone; that these hardy soldiers, when used to 
discipline, formed the certain reliance of Washing- 
ton. But let us see what Washington himself had 
to say about the New England troops when employed 
as militia : "Our situation Is truly distressing," he 
wrote to Congress, September 2d, 1776. "The 
check our detachment sustained on the 27th ultimo 
has dispirited too great a proportion of our troops, 
and filled their minds with apprehension and despair. 
The militia. Instead of calling forth their utmost 
efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to 

227 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

repair our losses, are dismayed, Intractable and im- 
patient to return. Great numbers of them have gone 
off, in some Instances, almost by whole regiments, by 
half ones, and by companies at a time. 
When their example has Infected another part of the 
army, when their want of discipline, and refusal of 
almost every kind of restraint and government, have 
produced a like conduct but too common to the whole, 
and an entire disregard of that order and subordina- 
tion necessary to the well doing of an army, . 
our condition becomes still more alarming." Again, 
September 2 2d, he writes his brother: "The de- 
pendence which the Congress have placed upon the 
militia has already greatly Injured, and I fear will 
totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no control 
themselves, they introduce disorder among the 
troops, whom we have attempted to discipline, while 
the change In their living brings on sickness; this 
causes an Impatience to get home, which spreads uni- 
versally, and introduces abominable desertions." 
And to Congress, on the 24th September, he wrote; 
"To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly 
resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from 
the tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to 
the din of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind 
of military skill (which Is followed by want of con- 
fidence in themselves, when opposed to troops regu- 
larly trained, disciplined and appointed, superior in 
knowledge and superior In arms), are timid and 

228 



THE NEW ENGLAND MILITIA 

ready to fly from their own shadows. Besides, the 
sudden change in their manner of living, particularly 
in their lodging, brings on sickness in many. Impa- 
tience In all, and such an unconquerable desire of 
returning to their respective homes, that it not only 
produces shameful and scandalous desertions among 
themselves, but infuses the like spirit into others. 
Again, men accustomed to unbounded freedom and 
no control cannot brook the restraint, which is indis- 
pensably necessary to the good order and government 
of an army; without which licentiousness and every 
kind of disorder triumphantly reign. To bring men 
to a proper degree of subordination Is not the work 
of a day, a month or even a year. . . . If I 
was called upon to declare upon oath whether the 
militia have been most serviceable or hurtful upon 
the whole, I should subscribe to the latter." 

In the light of Washington's own experience of 
militia, which at the time he wrote were chiefly from 
New England, It Is easy to see with what a problem 
Schuyler had had to deal. When he first gathered 
his little army together at Ticonderoga for the In- 
vasion of Canada his efforts to establish military 
regulations, to control the distribution of stores, to 
enforce sanitary rules, met with rebellious resistance. 
His own exertion of authority was stigmatized as 
aristocratic pride. He was disliked for trying to be 
a soldier himself and for trying to make his army 

229 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

soldierlike. Montgomery met the same fate; Pop- 
ular at first for his gallant and generous qualities, as 
soon as the men were in the field and began to feel the 
tpials and rigor of a mihtary life, his popularity 
waned. Of the trials which he endured from the 
insubordination of his men, how nearly half of them 
deserted him at Montreal, leaving him to go on to 
Quebec with a remnant, has been told in a previous 
chapter. The same unwillingness to endure the re- 
straints of military discipline and to remain away 
from their homes for more than a short time, had 
made the militia an extremely doubtful reliance for 
Schuyler through the year 1776. When he returned 
from Philadelphia in June and had the invasion of 
Burgoyne to face, it was this uncertainty about the 
militia which made his chief difficulty. He was told 
by Congress and by Washington that he must draw 
his army from New England volunteers. He sent to 
the governors and received promises. But it was 
impossible to tell whether the men would come in 
sufficient numbers or would come in time. No ag- 
gressive plan could be made when the material of 
the army was so indefinite. Bancroft blames Schuyler 
for appealing to Washington for continental troops. 
But it was natural that a general facing a great 
invasion of trained veterans should prefer a thousand 
regular soldiers who would certainly stay with him 
to a possible three thousand who might or might not 
join him, and might or might not choose to remain 

230 



THE CHARACTER OF GATES 

until the campaign was over. On the eve of the 
battle of Bennington the Rev. Mr. Alkn, who had 
come up from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with the 
militia of his neighborhood, said to Stark: "Colonel, 
our Berkshire people have often been called out to, 
no purpose, and if you don't let them fight now they 
will never turn out again." That was exactly the 
spirit of the New England militia. Fight they 
would when there was a fight on hand. But the 
general who was to benefit by their services must have 
the battle already arranged and the enemy on the 
spot so that they could fight and return without loss 
of time. To join an army, wait perhaps for months, 
march and counter-march through a campaign while 
their crops were ungathered, that they would not do. 
Nor should Congress have expected it of them. 

The general military outlook was gloomy when 
the resolution to supersede Schuyler was passed. 
Howe's army was superior to Washington's, and in 
the north Burgoyne seemed to have an overwhelming 
force. Congress acted in accordance with its best 
lights in yielding to the claim of the New England 
delegates that their men would not come out at Schuy- 
ler's call. The retirement of Schuyler was an error 
excusable under the circumstances. But the choice 
of his successor was a great mistake. Gates had done 
nothing during his employment in the northern de- 
partment in 1776. The two months of his command 
there in 1777, before the approach of Burgoyne, were 

231 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

spent in Albany in writing letters to his political sup- 
porters, while Ticonderoga, his special charge, was 
left to itself and never even visited. We shall see 
how little the victory of Saratoga was due to him; 
and later history tells of his disgraceful connection 
with the Conway Cabal, his incompetence at Camden 
and the final pricking of the bubble of his military 
reputation. 

Useless as a general as Gates turned out to be, the 
worst feature of his career was the constant base 
intrigue by which he sought to supplant a fellow 
soldier who had shown him nothing but generosity 
and kindness. His own correspondence with the New 
England delegates places his conduct in the worst 
light. Of the reprehensible character of such in- 
trigue, evidence enough is given by the way another 
Englishman looked at a similar accusation made 
against himself. When Burgoyne returned to Eng- 
land a defeated man, there were many attacks made 
upon him. But the one that angered him most was 
that he had intrigued at court to obtain the command 
of an expedition which rightfully belonged to Sir Guy 
Carleton, the senior officer in Canada. Before the 
committee of the House of Commons, Burgoyne 
said: "The next tendency was to Impress the public 
with an opinion that I was endeavoring to supplant 
Sir Guy Carleton In the command of the northern 
army, an action abhorrent to the honor of an officer 
and the liberality of a gentleman, and of which, 

232 



THE TEST OF CHARACTER 

thank God, I can prove the falsehood by Irrefragable 
evidence upon your table." That Gates pursued per- 
sistently during a whole year a course of action which 
Burgoyne considered "abhorrent to the honor of an 
officer and the liberality of a gentleman" is exposed 
in his correspondence with the New England dele- 
gates. 

Schuyler's character was severely tried when he 
received the humiliating news that after his untiring 
and successful labors, when a bright military prospect 
seemed before him, when the wished-for army was 
assured and a decisive battle imminent, another man 
was to take his place. By the way he bore this trial 
he must be judged as a man and a patriot. To 
President Hancock he wrote : "I am far from being 
insensible of the indignity of being ordered from the 
command of the army at a time when an engagement 
must soon take place. It, however, gives me great 
consolation that I shall have an opportunity of 
evincing that my conduct has been such as deserved 
the thanks of my country." A few days later he 
wrote to James Duane: "Last night I was advised 
that General Gates is on the point of arriving to 
relieve me. Your fears may be up, lest the ill-treat- 
ment I have experienced at his hands should so far 
get the better of my judgment as to embarrass him. 
Do not, my dear friend, be uneasy on that account. 
I am Incapable of sacrificing my country to a resent- 
ment however just, and I trust I shall give an example 

233 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

of what a good citizen ought to do when he is in 
my situation. I am nevertheless daily more sensible 
of the affront Congress has so unjustly given me.'* 
General Stark had just informed Schuyler that he 
had waived his military claims and would march his 
Hampshire troops to Stillwater. In thanking him 
Schuyler said: "In this critical conjuncture, if a 
gentleman, while he asserts his rights, sacrifices his 
feelings to the good of his country, he will merit the 
thanks of his country." In such a spirit Schuyler 
himself acted. From the time that he heard of his 
retirement until the arrival of Gates, he worked as 
hard as ever. It was in this interval that Arnold was 
sent up the Mohawk, and that great progress was 
made in organizing and provisioning the army. 
Schuyler's generous acceptance of this humiliation 
marks the climax of his revolutionary career and 
constitutes his best claim to the respect of his country- 
men. Many men have put life and property in 
jeopardy for their country's sake; but few men, hold- 
ing high commands, have borne calumny from the 
people and unjust treatment from the government as 
Schuyler did: without being soured, without vin- 
dictive feeling, without any diminution of pubhc 
spirit. This test of character, so nobly met, touches 
the highest note of patriotism. 

When Gates arrived in camp on August 19th with 
his commission as commander-in-chief, Schuyler re- 
ceived him with politeness, gave him all the informa- 

234 



THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA 

tion he possessed regarding the enemy and his own 
army, and offered his assistance in any capacity. But 
Gates ignored him completely. Although he invited 
everybody to his first council of war, even calling up 
General Ten Broeck from Albany, he did not ask 
Schuyler to attend it. Upon which Gouverneur Mor- 
ris remarked with his usual trenchant phrase: "The 
new commander-in-chief of the northern department 
may, if he please, neglect to ask or disdain to receive 
advice; but those who know him will, I am sure, be 
convinced that he needs it." 

As Schuyler's active military service terminated on 
the 19th of August, when he left the camp for Al- 
bany, a detailed account of the battles of Saratoga 
need not be repeated here. But the circumstances 
which led to the surrender of Burgoyne show clearly 
that the result was not due to the change in com- 
manders. That Schuyler would have contributed 
more to the victory than Gates is, to say the least, 
probable. That he would have contributed less Is 
incredible. 

Burgoyne's position became more embarrassing 
every day. It was not until the 13th of September 
that he had acquired enough provisions to enable him 
to cross the Hudson on the march to Albany. Hear- 
ing no word from Howe, knowing that St. Leger had 
been driven off, he was loath to advance further into 
a hostile country where he might be unable to subsist 
his army. But his orders were positive. On the 19th 

23s 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

occurred the first conflict at Bemis Heights and Free- 
man's Farm, where the British advance was checked 
by Generals Morgan and Arnold, without assistance 
from Gates. For nearly three weeks more Burgoyne 
remained inactive and uncertain, his situation becom- 
ing desperate for lack of provision, while the Ameri- 
can army increased to sixteen thousand men. October 
7th occurred the second battle of Freeman's Farm, 
resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans 
under the leadership chiefly of Morgan and Arnold, 
while Gates was quarrelling in his tent with a 
wounded English prisoner. During the next ten 
days the American army had increased to twenty 
thousand men; the British were surrounded and as- 
sailed from every side; retreat to Ticonderoga was 
cut off; provisions were exhausted, even water unob- 
tainable. On the 17th followed the inevitable capitu- 
lation. 

The credit for the destruction of Burgoyne's ex- 
pedition belongs to no one man. Schuyler contributed 
largely to it by the courage and energy with which he 
held together the little army left after the loss of 
Ticonderoga, kept up a bold front toward a greatly 
superior enemy, delayed and harassed his advance. 
To Schuyler's prompt action, as to Herkimer and 
Arnold, was due the safety of the Mohawk Valley. 
Stark's victory at Bennington contributed much. 
Lincoln's aid in raising the New England militia was 
of great value. Looking at the military operations, 

236 



THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA 

which together constitute the battle of Saratoga, it 
is impossible to credit Gates with any definite plan 
of campaign, or to trace to orders of his any im- 
portant movement. On the contrary, he obstructed 
Arnold as much as he could, and at decisive moments 
was complaining and arguing to no purpose. The 
two battles were fought on the part of the Americans 
according to no plan but that of attacking the enemy 
whenever he moved. Arnold, Morgan and Lincoln 
were partisan leaders, acting on the spur of the 
moment, agreeing among themselves and assisting 
each other, but under direction of no single authority. 
Arnold, indeed, had been deprived of all command 
by Gates, and was no more than a private citizen 
when he led the impetuous and decisive charge on 
Eraser's line at the second battle of Freeman's Farm. 
It is certain that Schuyler's intimate knowledge of 
the country where the battles were fought, his energy 
of character, his readiness to work with and for his 
fellow officers, his confidential relations with Lincoln, 
Morgan and Arnold would have made him a more 
useful man than Gates at the head of the northern 
army. After Burgoyne had been defeated by Mor- 
gan and Arnold with their unorganized but hardy 
followers. Gates first appeared as a real commander- 
in-chief and carried out very well the part of a 
generous and magnanimous victor. 

Schuyler, in his retirement at Albany, was kept 
informed of the course of events at Saratoga by his 

2Z7 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

friends in the army. "I am chagrined to the soul," 
wrote Henry Brockholst Livingston, in September, 
"when I think that another person is to reap the 
fruits of your labors. The candid and impartial will, 
however, bestow the honor where it is due. And 
although the ungrateful and envious are making use 
of every art to ruin you in the esteem of your country- 
men, I flatter myself you will rise superior to them all 
and receive the thanks of your country for those ser- 
vices of which it is at present unmindful." During 
the military operations the British burned to the 
ground Schuyler's fine country house, with its barns, 
granaries and stables, which had been the result of 
many years of economy and industry. The news of 
this personal disaster reached him at Albany at the 
same time as that of the American victory. "The 
event that has taken place," he wrote to Colonel 
Varick, "makes the heavy loss I have sustained sit 
quite easy on me. Britain will probably see how 
fruitless her attempts to enslave us will be. I set out 
today." At Saratoga he was introduced to Burgoyne. 
The latter afterwards described the meeting in a 
speech before the House of Commons : "I expressed 
to General Schuyler my regret at the event which 
had happened, and the reasons which had occasioned 
it. He desired me to think no more of it, saying that 
the occasion justified it, according to the rules of war. 
He did more : he sent his aide-de-camp 
to conduct me to Albany, in order, as he expressed it, 

238 



AFTER THE BATTLE 

to procure me better quarters than a stranger might 
be able to find. This gentleman conducted me to a 
very elegant house, and, to my great surprise, pre- 
sented me to Mrs. Schuyler and her family; and in 
this General's house I remained during my whole stay 
at Albany, with a table of more than twenty covers 
for me and my friends, and every other possible 
demonstration of hospitality." 

The wife of the German General Riedesel, who 
with two children had accompanied her husband 
through the campaign, left an interesting account of 
these events. "In the passage through the American 
camp," she said, "I observed, with great satisfaction, 
that no one cast at us scornful glances. On the con- 
trary, they all greeted me, even showing compassion 
on their countenances at seeing a mother with her 
little children in such a situation. I confess that I 
feared to come into the enemy's camp, as the thing 
was so entirely new to me. When I approached the 
tents, a noble looking man came toward me, took 
the children out of the wagon, embraced and kissed 
them, and then with tears in his eyes helped me also 
to alight. 'You tremble,' said he to me; 'fear noth- 
ing.' *No,' replied I, 'for you are so kind and have 
been so tender toward my children, that it has in- 
spired me with courage.' He then led me to the 
tent of General Gates, with whom I found Generals 
Burgoyne and Phillips, who were upon an extremely 
friendly footing with him. Burgoyne said to me, 

239 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

'You may now dismiss all your apprehensions, for 
your sufferings are at an end.' . . . All the gen- 
erals remained to dine with General Gates. The man 
who had received me so kindly came up and said to 
me, 'It may be embarrassing to you to dine with all 
these gentlemen; come now with your children into 
my tent, where I will give you, it is true, a frugal 
meal, but one that will be accompanied by the best 
of wishes.' 'You are certainly,' answered I, *a hus- 
band and a father, since you show me so much kind- 
ness.' I then learned that he was the American 
General Schuyler. He entertained me with excellent 
smoked tongue, beef steaks, potatoes, good butter 
and bread. Never have I eaten a better meal. I 
was content. ... As soon as we had finished 
dinner, he invited me to take up my residence at his 
house, which was situated in Albany, and told me 
that General Burgoyne would also be there. . 
The day after this we arrived at Albany, where we 
had so often longed to be. But we came not, as 
we supposed we should, as victors ! We were, never- 
theless, received in the most friendly manner by the 
good General Schuyler, and by his wife and daugh- 
ters, who showed us the most marked courtesy, as 
also General Burgoyne, although he had — without 
any necessity, it was said — caused their magnificently 
built houses to be burned. But they treated us as 
people who knew how to forget their own losses in 
the misfortunes of others. Even General Burgoyne 

240 



BURGOYNE AT ALBANYj 

was deeply moved at their magnanimity, and said to 
General Schuyler, 'Is It to me, who have done you 
so much Injury, that you show so much kindness?' 
'That Is the fate of war,' replied the brave man; 'let 
us say no more about It.' " 

De Chastellux tells the following anecdote of Bur- 
goyne's visit to the Schuylers: "The British com- 
mander was well received by Mrs. Schuyler, and 
lodged In the best apartment In the house. An 
excellent supper was served him In the evening, the 
honors of which were done with so much grace that 
he was affected even to tears, and said with a deep 
sigh, 'Indeed, this Is doing too much for a man who 
has ravaged their lands and burned their dwellings.' 
The next morning he was reminded of his misfortunes 
by an Incident that would have amused anyone else. 
His bed was prepared In a large room; but as he had 
a numerous suite, or family, several mattresses were 
spread on the floor for some oflicers to sleep near him. 
Schuyler's second son,* a little fellow about nine years 
old, very arch and forward, but very amiable, was 
running all the morning about the house. Opening 
the door of the saloon, he burst out a laughing on 
seeing all the English collected, and shut it after him, 
exclaiming, 'You are all my prisoners!' This inno- 
cent cruelty rendered them more melancholy than 
before." 

*Philip J. Schuyler, father of George L. Schuyler. 

241 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

John Trumbull, in his painting of the surrender of 
Burgoyne for the rotunda of the Capitol at Washing- 
ton, represents Schuyler as standing in citizen's dress 
among his countrymen in continental uniform. To 
continue his military services and finally to receive 
the sword of the enemy were privileges which un- 
fortunate circumstances had taken from him. But 
Trumbull portrayed truly the judgment of his time 
and of posterity in placing Schuyler, the patriot, in 
the forefront of that great scene which his faithful 
and unselfish labors had done so much to make pos- 
sible. 

After the events at Saratoga, Schuyler applied for 
a court martial to investigate his conduct during the 
war, and especially his relation to the evacuation of 
Ticonderoga, of which his enemies had been able to 
make so fatal a use. In December, 1777, he wrote 
to Congress: "When a man of sentiment labouring 
under odious and injurious suspicions has in prospect 
a period which promises to afford him relief and 
restore quiet to his mind, it is natural that he should 
anxiously wish for its arrival. The conviction of a 
good and a clear conscience leaves not a doubt in my 
mind that the result of the inquiry into my conduct 
will have that effect and restore me to the full con- 
fidence of such of my honest countrymen as have been 
led away by popular clamor, and that I shall stand 
confessed the sincere and affectionate friend of my 
country. Congress will therefore pardon me If I am 

242 



RESIGNATION FROM THE ARMY 

importunate on this subject. I have suffered so much 
m public life that it cannot create surprise if I anx- 
iously wish to retire and pay that attention to my 
private affairs, which the losses I have sustained by 
the enemy and the derangement occasioned by devot- 
ing all my time to the duties of my offices have 
occasioned, and yet the impropriety of resigning them 
before the inquiry has taken place or the committee 
reported my innocence, is too striking to need dwell- 
ing on." Congress procrastinated, and it was not 
until the following year that his repeated requests 
were granted. The court martial acquitted him on 
every count, and in December, 1778, Congress ap- 
proved the verdict "with the highest honor." 

Schuyler then sent in his resignation as Major- 
General, whereupon Jay wrote him in March, 1779, 
from Philadelphia: "Congress has refused to accept 
your resignation. Twelve States were represented. 
New England and Pennsylvania against you. The 
delegates of the latter are new men and not free from 
the influence of the former. From New York south 
you have fast friends. . . . Were I in your sit- 
uation I should not hesitate a moment to continue in 
the service. I have the best authority to assure you 
that the Commander-in-Chief wishes you to retain 
your commission. The propriety of your resignation 
is now out of the question. Those laws of honor 
which might have required it are satisfied. Are you 
certain they do not demand a contrary conduct? You 

243 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

have talents to render you conspicuous in the field; 
and address to conciliate the affections of those who 
may now wish you ill. Both these circumstances are 
of worth to your family, and, independent of public 
considerations, argue forcibly for the army. Gather 
laurels for the sake of your country and your children. 
You can leave them a sufficient share of property; 
leave them also the reputation of being descended 
from an incontestably great man — a man who, unin- 
fluenced by the ingratitude of his country, was un- 
remitted in his exertions to promote her happiness. 
You have hitherto been no stranger to these senti- 
ments, and therefore I forbear to enlarge." 

But Schuyler felt that there were other directions 
in which he could exert a useful patriotism; and he 
pressed his resignation, which was accepted the next 
April. While the court martial was still in session, 
he had been elected a delegate to the Continental 
Congress. He refused to take his seat while charges 
were pending against him, but after his acquittal he 
did so and rendered constant service at Philadelphia. 
During the remainder of the war public business 
made continual demands. Washington depended 
upon him for finding and forwarding provisions for 
the army, an occupation to which he devoted a great 
deal of time, and in which he was often obliged to 
pledge his private credit. Negotiations with the! 
Indian tribes and the disordered condition of the Newl 
York frontier required his frequent presence In Al- 

244 



PROTECTION OF THE FRONTIER 

bany. In May, 1780, when at Washington's camp 
at Morristown, he was recalled by the following letter 
from Colonel Morgan Lewis: "Sir John Johnson, 
we are credibly informed, is in force at Jesup's Creek. 
An universal consternation has seized the frontier 
inhabitants, and upwards of one hundred and fifty 
persons, heretofore esteemed good Whigs, imagining 
themselves neglected, and fearing the resentment of 
the enemy, have, within these three days, gone off 
and joined them. All Tryon County is on the move 
to Schenectady, which, in a few days more, must be 
our western frontier. Threats are thrown out against 
Saratoga, and 'tis the prevailing opinion, an attempt 
will be made to destroy it. The strength of the 
country would be quite sufficient to render this banditti 
truly despicable could it be exerted. The spirit of the 
people is good, but we are destitute of the means of 
subsisting them, not having provision for even our 
artificers and labourers. Your knowledge of the 
resources of the country and influence with the ruling 
powers will be of great service in this critical juncture, 
and I confess my apprehensions for those unfortunate 
people who lie exposed and unprotected are greatly 
alleviated in the reflection that nothing in your power 
will be left unessayed." 

Schuyler's activity against the Tories and their 
Indian allies who worried the western frontier was 
of such effect that in 1781 they made a determined 
effort to capture him. A band of Tories, Canadians 

245 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

and Indians surrounded and broke Into the house. 
The raihng of the stairway still bears the mark of a 
tomahawk thrown by a savage at Miss Margaret 
Schuyler as she ran through the hall with her little 
sister in her arms. Schuyler collected his family in 
an upper room, and by keeping up a musketry fire 
from the window, and by calling out orders, as if to 
a rescuing party, he succeeded in frightening the raid- 
ers, who fled with the family silver. Washington 
wrote to congratulate him on his escape, which "was 
attended by the flattering circumstance of being ef- 
fected entirely by your own presence of mind." 

When, in May, 178 1, Robert Morris had con- 
sented to undertake the charge of the continental 
finances, he apphed to Schuyler for his assistance. 
It is a station, wrote Morris, "that makes me tremble 
when I think of it, and which nothing could tempt 
me to accept but a gleam of hope that my exertions 
may possibly retrieve this poor distressed country 
from the ruin with which it is now threatened merely 
for want of system and economy in expending and 
vigour in raising the public monies. Pressed by all 
my friends, acquaintances and fellow citizens, and 
still more pressed by the necessity, the absolute neces- 
sity of a change in our monied systems to work salva- 
tion, I have yielded and taken a load on my shoulders 
which it is not possible to get clear of without the 
faithful support and assistance of those good citizens, 
who not onb^ wish but will promote the service of 

246 



OTHER PUBLIC SERVICES 

their country. In this light I now make application 
to you, sir, whose abilities I know and whose zeal 
I have every reason to believe." To this appeal 
Schuyler responded with his usual patriotic energy, 
and later on Morris wrote him : "I am happy to 
find your exertions so cheerfully and usefully ex- 
tended to the public service." 



247 



Chapter VIII. 

Schuyler's Political Career After the Revolution. 

His Part in the Development of New 

York State. — His Family Life. 

WHILE the war was still in progress, and 
while he was absorbed in military duties, 
Schuyler was called upon to take part in 
the political affairs of his native State which, at this 
formative period, demanded the best efforts of in- 
telligent patriots. The struggle for Independence 
necessarily Involved the building up of a new political 
system. The old Provincial Assembly, in which 
Schuyler and Clinton had opposed the oppressive acts 
of the British ministry, had been succeeded In the 
beginning of the war by the Provincial Congress, 
which assumed the government of the revolted colony. 
On the 9th of July, 1776, immediately after the 
Declaration of Independence, this Congress marked 
the change from colony Into Independent State by 
resolving Itself into a convention of representatives 
of New York. The first business of the convention 
was to appoint a committee to prepare a form of gov- 
ernment for the new State, and of this committee 
John Jay was made chairman. In March, 1777, Jay 

248 



POLITICS IN NEW YORK 

presented the constitution, which he had drawn up 
with his colleagues, and it was adopted in April. It 
provided for a government by the people, but the 
aristocratic ideas still prevalent and embodied in 
Jay's declaration that the men who owned the country 
ought to govern it, appeared in a property qualifica- 
tion for the ballot which restricted the right of suf- 
frage. The convention appointed John Jay, Chief 
Justice; Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor; Robert 
Yates and John Sloss Hobart, Judges of the Supreme 
Court, and Egbert Benson, Attorney-General. The 
Governorship, however, was thrown open to popular 
election. 

As there were no political parties, the candidates 
were suggested only by their own prominence before 
the public. Four men were considered chiefly by the 
electors: John Morin Scott, John Jay, Philip 
Schuyler and George Clinton. Scott, one of the 
leaders of the Liberty Boys and a patriot of great 
usefulness during the popular resistance to the acts 
of the British ministry, would have made a strong 
candidate; but the county of New York, which con- 
tained his principal constituency, was in the power of 
the British army and no election was held there. Jay, 
satisfied with the office of Chief Justice, did not want 
the governorship and supported Schuyler. The 
Council of Safety, which then had charge of ad- 
ministrative affairs, also favored Schuyler. The elec- 
tion took place during the anxious days of the Bur- 

249 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

goyne campaign. Schuyler was absorbed In the effort 
to arrest the progress of the British army, and neither 
considered himself a candidate nor encouraged his 
friends to do so. Thus the office of Governor fell to 
Clinton. Pierre Van Cortlandt was chosen Lieuten- 
ant-Governor. 

George Clinton, destined to play a great part In 
the public affairs of his native State, was of Scotch- 
Irish extraction, the son of a farmer In Ulster County. 
In almost boyish days he had served with Schuyler In 
the French and Indian War. Later he studied law 
In New York In the office of William Smith. During 
the political struggle In the Provincial Assembly 
which preceded the Revolution he and Schuyler had 
been the chief supporters of the patriot cause against 
the ministerial majority. In 1775 they were elected 
together as delegates to the second Continental 
Congress. Like Schuyler, Clinton left his seat In 
Congress for the military service, and at the time of 
the election for the governorship he was brigadier- 
general In command of the mllltia defending the 
Hudson River. He was then thirty-seven years of 
age, of a burly frame, a hearty manner, active, vigor- 
ous, Intelligent, a natural leader, and uniting more 
qualities for general popularity than any other public 
man In the State. Neither wealth nor family connec- 
tions had assisted him. His native talents had raised 
him to office and were to maintain him there for 
eighteen consecutive years. Before him no man of a 

250 



CLINTON AND SCHUYLER 

similar social position had occupied high political 
office. He symbolized In his career the new democ- 
racy which was arising. 

Clinton owed his election to his popularity among 
the general mass of voters, rather than to the influence 
of the leading men. Schuyler had worked with him 
since early youth, knew and liked him. For Gov- 
ernor he would have preferred Jay, but he looked 
with satisfaction upon Clinton's candidacy. There 
were, however, a number of influential men who were 
not well pleased with the result of the election, who 
would have wished the office held by a man more In 
line with the conservative traditions of the State. 
They seemed to feel instinctively that Clinton, al- 
though now working with them, might In the future 
be working against them. There was a feeling of 
antagonism none the less real that it was vague and 
as yet without definite cause. 

Among the accusations made against Schuyler by 
George Bancroft was that while Washington wrote 
of Clinton's election, "His character will make him 
peculiarly useful at the head of your State," Schuyler 
wrote, "His family and connections do not entitle 
him to so distinguished a predomlnence." Bancroft 
inferentlally represented Schuyler as having no stand- 
ard for public office other than aristocratic position. 
The phrase which he quoted, isolated from Its context 
and without intimation as to whom or under what 
circumstances it was written, gave a totally incorrect 

251! 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

and unfair idea of Schuyler's views. Schuyler knew 
of the opposition to Clinton among many of his 
friends; he was anxious to secure harmonious support 
for the new government; and he wrote confidentially 
to Jay: "I hope General Clinton's having the chair 
of government will not cause any divisions among 
the friends of America, although his family and con- 
nections do not entitle him to so distinguished a pre- 
dominence; yet he is virtuous and loves his country, 
has abilities and is brave, and I hope he will experi- 
ence from every patriot what I am resolved he shall 
from me, support, countenance and comfort." And 
to Clinton himself, Schuyler wrote soon after: "I 
sincerely congratuate you on the honour your country- 
men have conferred on you, and assure you that I 
shall embrace every opportunity to make you sit as 
easy in the chair of government as the times will ad- 
mit. Your virtue, the love of my country, and that 
friendship which I have always and with great truth 
professed, are all so many inducements to it." 

While Schuyler was visiting Washington's camp 
at Morristown, in 1779, In company with his daugh- 
ter Elizabeth, the latter became engaged to Alexander 
Hamilton and they were married the following year. 
Schuyler's interest in political affairs, naturally deep, 
was intensified by his intimacy with Hamilton. The 
relationship formed the beginning of a friendship of 
unusual strength on both sides, in which personal 

252 



HAMILTON AND SCHUYLER 

affection was Increased by entire agreement and sym- 
pathy on public questions of absorbing Interest. Dur- 
ing the next twenty years the foundations of the 
nation were laid and Its future determined. Into the 
burning questions then arising for settlement Schuyler 
entered with all the more heartiness that his son-in-law 
was the prime mover on the right side. It was a 
time of Intense political feeling; men were drawn 
closely together or separated widely, according to 
their views on public policy. During this period, 
Schuyler living generally In Albany, and Hamilton 
In New York, their views were often exchanged by 
letter. After Schuyler's death, this correspondence, 
with other Interesting political papers, was found In 
a trunk In Albany. Its v^alue historically was great. 
It could have thrown light on the early history of 
the Federalist party, and perhaps would have cleared 
up some Incidents which now remain obscure. The 
Intimate, unguarded views of Hamilton were there. 
But the son of one of Schuyler's executors, looking 
over the papers and finding expressions which he con- 
sidered too personal, took upon himself the responsi- 
bility of burning the whole ! 

From 1780 to 1790, Schuyler was almost continu- 
ously a member of the State Senate and a member 
of the Council of Appointment, which shared the 
appointing power with the Governor. He was also 
a commissioner on the Massachusetts and the Penn- 
sylvania boundaries, chairman of the Board of Indian 

253 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Commissioners and surveyor-general of the State. 
One of the most important measures which he carried 
through the Legislature was the repeal of the re- 
strictive laws against the loyalists, which he had al- 
ways opposed as cruel and impolitic. 

Through those disorderly and dangerous years 
preceding the adoption of the national constitution, 
when the slight bond which joined the States was 
often strained to near the breaking point, Schuyler 
was constant in urging a closer union and a stronger 
central government. He procured the passage 
through the New York Legislature of resolutions to 
that end which Hamilton had drawn up, and he kept 
the subject foremost in all political talk. In 1787, 
when the Constitution of the United States, lately 
formulated by the convention at Philadelphia, was 
before the people for ratification, the two great par- 
ties, Federalist and Anti-Federalist, began to take 
form. On the one side were the advocates of a strong 
centralized government which could make an Ameri- 
can nation; on the other those who preferred a loose 
confederation of independent States. It was the vital 
question in our history, not settled finally until the 
Civil War. In New York, party feeling ran high. 
Hamilton, Jay and Schuyler were foremost in work- 
ing for the adoption of the Constitution. Clinton 
and his friends were against it and had a strong 
majority with them. In January, 1788, when the 
great question was paramount in every mind, the 

254 



IN THE NEW YORK SENATE 

Governor made no mention of it in his message to 
the Legislature. In June a convention to consider 
ratification met at Poughkeepsie, Governor Clinton 
presiding. His friends, led by Robert Yates, John 
Lansing, Jr., Samuel Jones, and Melancthon Smith 
largely outnumbered their opponents. But the Fed- 
eralists, led by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Rich- 
ard Morris, John Sloss Hobart, Robert R. Living- 
ston and James Duane, had not only on their side the 
strength of great and enlightened ideas, but also the 
advantage of superior abilities. A long struggle en- 
sued, in which the brilliant arguments of Hamilton 
disconcerted the opposing majority. But it was not 
until it became known that enough States had ratified 
to show that New York would be left alone in her 
independence, that Clinton's party gave up the fight, 
and the constitution became law in New York. As 
Schuyler remarked, " Perseverance, patience, and 
abilities prevailed against numbers and prejudice." 

In the Legislature of 1788 Clinton's party had a 
majority in the Assembly, but Hamilton, Schuyler, 
and the Federalists controlled the senate. The Clin- 
tonians claimed that the choice of United States Sena- 
tors and Presidential electors should be by joint ballot 
of both Houses; the Federalists that the choice 
should be by the concurrent vote of the separate 
houses. On this question no agreement was reached 
until the following year, so that New York had no 
part in electing Washington for his first term nor in 

25s 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

confirming his early appointments. In April, 1789, 
the first great test of parties in New York occurred 
in the election for governor. Clinton was a candidate 
to succeed himself. On the Federalist side Jay de- 
clined to run, as he was too much taken up with na- 
tional affairs. Schuyler also refused, as he wished to 
enter the United States Senate. The only other man 
who seemed to have any chance of defeating Clinton 
was Judge Yates. He had been an anti-Federalist, 
but in a speech to the grand jury had declared that 
the Constitution having been ratified, it was every 
man's duty to support it. This seemed to be good 
enough Federalism for the emergency, and Yates was 
nominated. Clinton's popularity, however, pre- 
vailed, and he was again elected Governor, although 
the Legislature became Federalist in both branches. 

Since the formation of the national Government 
Hamilton had been rising in political importance un- 
til now he was second only to Washington. As the 
head of the Treasury Department there devolved 
upon him the solution of the most vital problems 
which the administration had to solve. His activity 
in all political affairs was untiring and his influence 
paramount. When the newly elected New York 
Legislature was called in extra session for the election 
of United States Senators, Hamilton's power was ex- 
erted in a direction which caused much jealousy. One 
of the Senatorships was universally conceded to 
Schuyler. But there were several pretenders to the 

256 



IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE 

other, whose claims on account of previous patriotic 
service were well founded. Among these was Robert 
R. Livingston. He and Philip Livingston had been 
candidates for Governor at the first election in 1777; 
but they had polled a very small vote. Now the 
Livingstons and their friends thought that the Chan- 
cellor should have the other seat in the United States 
Senate. Hamilton, however, had fixed upon Rufus 
King, a man of the highest character and abilities, 
but a New Englander who had only recently estab- 
lished himself in New York. The influence of Ham- 
ilton prevailed and King was elected. But the Liv- 
ingstons felt a not unnatural resentment, and soon 
afterwards went over to the anti-Federalists or Dem- 
ocratic party. 

Schuyler and King had to draw lots to determine 
which should have the short term of two years or the 
long one of six years. Schuyler drew the short term. 
From 1790 to 1792 he had the satisfaction of sup- 
porting in the United States Senate Hamilton's great 
financial measures which so immeasurably increased 
the stability and credit of the Government. In 1792 
he was again a candidate for Senator. But the wily 
Aaron Burr, uniting in his own support the Clinton- 
ian party and the Livingstons, anxious to strike a 
blow at Hamilton, secured the seat for himself. 
Schuyler returned to the State Senate, where he led 
the defence of the Jay Treaty. In 1797, at the ex- 
piration of Burr's term, he had his revenge, for the 

257 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

New York Legislature returned him to the United 
States Senate almost unanimously. His health, near- 
ly always poor, began to give way after this election, 
and soon after taking his seat he retired finally from 
public life. 

Schuyler was a Federalist from the first moment 
that circumstances suggested the dominant Idea of 
that party. During the " critical period " he saw in 
the principle of Federalism the only salvation of the 
jarring and disunited States. While Clinton and his 
political friends refused to look beyond the boundary 
of New York with anything but narrow jealousy and 
prejudice, while they sent two obstructionists to tie 
Hamilton's hands in the Constitutional Convention, 
Schuyler's voice was always heard urging national 
unity. His feelings were warmly aroused, and his 
efforts unremitting to procure the adoption of the 
constitution In his own hostile State. During the 
fifteen years of national life which he was permitted 
to see he was never without thought for the great 
cause: the welding of the States Into one people and 
one nation, respecting Itself and respected by others. 
The noble aim, the vision of future greatness, were 
to be achieved, If at all, by the Federalist party. And 
Schuyler was a partisan. His political associates had 
his time and his means always at command. And he 
can be forgiven if he saw in the enemies of his party 
his personal enemies and the enemies of his country. 
The reverence which he felt for the great leader of 

258 



DEVELOPMENT OF NEW YORK 

the revolution, for the chief of the Federalists, for 
him who stood "first," was a part of Schuyler's life. 
That base libellers, aided and abetted by leaders of 
the opposing party, should cast mud at him and seek 
to degrade in the public eye what was best in Ameri- 
can manhoo'd, made Schuyler's blood boil, made it 
easy for him to believe any evil of such "miscreants,'* 
and made him on such issues a very warm partisan. 

In addition to his political interests Schuyler took 
an active part in the development of his native State. 
From his youth up he had made a study of the physi- 
cal geography of New York. None was a better 
judge of the quality of land; none more surely could 
foresee its value by observation of the forest growth 
and the water courses. His own purchases were for 
improvement, seldom for speculation. His posses- 
sion of land meant the erection of saw-mills, the clear- 
ing of the forest, and the beginning of cultivation. 
The most favorable terms were offered to tenants. 
The old parchment leases mention so many bushels of 
grain, so many fowls, or day's labor as rent. The in- 
dividual payments were trifling, but in the aggregate 
they brought a considerable income to the large land- 
owner. After the Revolution, with the changed so- 
cial and political conditions, Schuyler foresaw the dif- 
ficulties in the path of a great landlord, caused by the 
uncertainties of title and tenure. He made definite 
arrangements with his tenants regarding their future 
purchase of their holdings, and thus spared his de- 

259 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

scendants the troubles and losses of the "anti-rent" 
agitation. His judgment regarding land was sought 
by intending purchasers, and his knowledge was put 
to public use in marking the boundaries between 
Massachusetts on the east and Pennsylvania on the 
south. As surveyor-general he had more or less to 
do with all the public works of the progressive times 
that followed the war; the dividing up of Tryon 
County, the settlement of the towns of Ontario, Gen- 
essee, and Oneida, the construction of new roads 
from the Mohawk River to the lakes, and from Gen- 
essee to what are now Buffalo and Lewiston. With 
the opening of the interior of the State to settlers he 
saw Albany lose its old frontier position as headquar- 
ters of the fur trade to assume that of centre of a 
grain-producing country. Lie saw a line of stages 
established down the Hudson River, and the Institu- 
tion of a regular mail carrier every two weeks be- 
tween Albany and the Genessee Valley, 

In this transformation of savage hunting grounds 
into a cultivated country, the question of transporta- 
tion soon became of great Importance. The old 
waterways and carrys had been supplemented by 
rough roads cut through the forest between the larger 
settlements. But a better means of transporting emi- 
grants and freight became Imperatively necessary. 
Schuyler saw In canals the solution of this problem. 
The waterways of his native land suggested the Idea; 
and when a young man visiting England In 1761, he 

260 



DEVELOPMENT OF CANAL SYSTEM 

had already studied the subject. In 1776, when 
Charles Carroll and Benjamin Franklin were visiting 
the northern department, Schuyler showed them his 
plans for connecting the Hudson River and Lake 
Champlain by a canal, thus making an uninterrupted 
water carriage between New York and Quebec. In 
1792, with Elkanah Watson, he took up the project 
of a canal between the Hudson River and Lake On- 
tario by way of the Mohawk, Oneida Lake, and the 
Onondaga River. Watson examined this route in 
company with Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Philip Van 
Cortlandt and Stephen N. Bayard. Schuyler was 
then a State Senator, and he procured an act of the 
Legislature chartering two companies to carry out 
this design, of both of which he was made president. 
With Goldsbrow Banyer and Elkanah Watson, in 
the summer of 1792, he made a thorough examination 
of the route from Schenectady to Lakes Seneca and 
Ontario, a country which a short time before had 
been in exclusive possession of the Indians. In 1793 
work was begun, and in 1796 boats of sixteen tons 
burden passed from Schenectady to Lake Ontario. 
In 1794 Schuyler was interested in the northern or 
Champlain Canal, constructed by the French engi- 
neer, Brunei. During the remainder of his life he 
continued his efforts In this direction, and In the sum- 
mer of 1802, when sixty-nine years old, he examined 
personally the entire western canal route, devising 
Improvements for locks and solving the engineering 

261 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

and mathematical problems himself. Such work was 
done by him in his age in a land where in his youth 
he had gone by an Indian trail and only by savage 
permission. 

With the Indians, the great Iroquois Confed- 
eracy, Schuyler continued the close relations which 
had been hereditary In his family. In his youth he 
had often travelled the western trail by the Long 
House; he had fought against the savages and with 
them In the French and Indian war. He had known 
them in their power, hemming in the whites, keeping 
them close to the Hudson, an endless menace on the 
west in conjunction with the French or English in 
Canada. He held the office of Indian commissioner 
for many years, attending all the important council 
fires, and was regarded by the savages as the heredi- 
tary representative of the whites. The chiefs who 
came to Albany always appeared at the Schuyler 
house, where, although "troublesome visitors," they 
were hospitably received. During the Revolutionary 
War Schuyler was the principal Instrument in limiting 
their hostility. During the ravages of Sir John John- 
son, of Brant, and the Cornplanter on the western 
frontier he was the chief organizer of resistance. 
Whenever business arose between the United States 
and the Six Nations, Schuyler's experience was used. 
General Knox, the Secretary of War, relied upon him. 
Governor Clinton wrote him in 1784: "You were so 
obliging as to promise to draft a letter proper to be 

262 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 

addressed to the Indians for inviting them to the pro- 
posed treaty. I am utterly unacquainted with the 
etiquette to be used on such occasions; may I there- 
fore venture to request that with the draft of the let- 
ter you will please to Inform me whether It will be 
necessary to send copies to the different tribes and, If 
so, give me the proper addresses, and whatever other 
information you may conceive necessary." 

And Schuyler lived to see the decline of the Six Na- 
tions as a power to be dreaded. The treaty at Fort 
Stanwix pushed the boundary of New York far west- 
ward. The canals, which opened a road for men and 
goods to the Great Lakes, meant the end of savage 
possession. The great chiefs, with whom Schuyler had 
struggled and negotiated, saw the inevitable conclu- 
sion. The Cornplanter, who had ravaged Wyo- 
ming and Cherry Valley at the head of his Senecas, 
paid the penalty when he reluctantly signed away 
the old hunting grounds of his nation at Fort Stan- 
wix; and he felt the full force of the irresistible 
change when he received a tax bill from the State of 
Pennsylvania. Red Jacket, the great orator of the Sen- 
ecas, shed tears when he found his hunting expedi- 
tions interrupted again and again by fences. Brant, 
the brother-in-law of Sir William Johnson, whose 
long and bloody career had made his name a terror 
along the border, realized the ruin of his race when, 
on his death-bed, he charged his nephew : "Have pity 
on the poor Indians; if you can get any Influence 

263 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

with the great, endeavor to do them all the good you 
can." Such was the end of the dominating confed- 
eracy, yielding before the irresistible advance of civ- 
ilization. Schuyler had always a feeling of sym- 
pathetic interest in the Indians, and he often inter- 
vened to protect their interests. Among the mass of 
addresses and petitions regarding them which remain 
among his papers are not a few letters thanking him 
for services rendered and signed by the mark of once 
well-known chiefs. 

With the substitution of the State for the old Prov- 
ince of New York, with the succession of George 
Clinton to the Crown governorships of Sir Henry 
Moore, Lord Dunmore and William Tryon, Schuy- 
ler saw some marked social changes. The manors of 
the Hudson and the political influence of prominent 
famihes disappeared. Landed estates were divided 
up among many heirs. Ambitious young men went 
to the cities to practice law or to engage in commerce, 
where town lots soon became a more profitable form 
of investment than the wild lands which their fathers 
had sought to acquire. Very quickly and naturally 
the English idea of a landed aristocracy was forgot- 
ten; old prejudices fell away; and among all ranks 
arose the free and eager competition for wealth and 
success which is characteristic of our time and coun- 
try. 

Schuyler's domestic life was happy, and the family 
letters which have been preserved display strong af- 

264 



FAMILY LIFE 

fectlons. He lost several children In infancy, but 
lived to see eight grow to manhood and womanhood 
and become well established in life.* The estate at 
Saratoga, where he had built a small house to replace 
the large one burned by the soldiers of General Bur- 
goyne, was given by him to his son John Bradstreet 
on his marriage to the daughter of the patroon; and 
on the occasion of this gift, in 1784, he wrote to his 
son: — 

"My Dear Child: I resign to your care and to 
your sole emolument a place on which I have for a 
long series of years bestowed much care and atten- 
tion, and I confess I should part from it with many 
a severe pang did I not resign it to my child. I feel 
none now because of that paternal consideration. It 
is natural, however, for a parent to be solicitous for 
the weal of a child who Is now to be guided by, and 
in a great measure to rely on his own judgment and 
prudence. Happiness ought to be the end and aim 
of the exertions of every rational creature, and spir- 
itual happiness should take the lead, in fact tem- 
poral happiness without the former does not really 
exist except in name. The first can only be obtained 
by an improvement of those faculties of the mind 
which the beneficent Author of Creation has made all 



*John Bradstreet Schuyler, Philip J. Schuyler, Van Rensselaer 
Schuyler, Mrs. John B. Church, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, Mrs. 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Washington Morton, Mrs. Mal- 
colm, afterwards Mrs. Cochran. 

265 



LIFE OF GENERAL (PHILIP SCHUYLER 

men susceptible of, by a conscious discharge of those 
sacred duties enjoined on us by God, or those whom 
he has authorized to promulgate His Holy will. Let 
the rule of your conduct then be the precept con- 
tained In Holy Writ (to which I hope and entreat 
you will have frequent recourse). If you do, virtue, 
honor, good faith, and a punctual discharge of the 
social duties will be the certain result, and an Internal 
satisfaction that no temporal calamities can ever de- 
prive you of. Be Indulgent, my child, to your In- 
feriors, affable and courteous to your equals, respect- 
ful, not cringing, to your superiors, whether they are 
so by superior mental abilities or those necessary dis- 
tinctions which society has established. With regard 
to your temporal concerns. It Is Indispensably neces- 
sary that you should afford them a close and continual 
attention. That you should not commit that to 
others which you can execute yourself. That you 
should not refer the necessary business of the hour or 
the day to the next. Delays are not only dangerous ; 
they are fatal. Do not consider anything too Insig- 
nificant to preserve; if you do so the habit will steal 
on you and you will consider many things of little 
Importance and the account will close against you. 
iWhereas a proper economy will not only make you 
easy, but enable you to bestow benefits on objects who 
may want your assistance, and of them you will find 
not a few. Example Is infinitely more lasting than 
precept; let, therefore, your servants never discover a 

266 



FAMILY LIFE 

disposition to negligence or waste; if they do they 
will surely follow you in it, and your affairs will not 
slide, but gallop into Ruin. ... I must once 
more recommend to you as a matter of Indispensable 
Importance to love, to honor, and faithfully and with- 
out guile to serve the eternal, incomprehensible ben- 
eficent and gracious Being by whose will you exist, 
and so insure happiness, in this life and in that to 
come. And now, my dear child, I commit you and 
my daughter and all your concerns to His gracious 
and good guidance; and sincerely entreat Him to 
enable you to be a comfort to your parents and a pro- 
tector to your brothers and sisters, an honor to your 
family and a good citizen. Accept my blessing, and 
be assured that I am your affectionate father." 

Schuyler's wife, the "Sweet Kitty V. R." of his 
youth, was spared to him for forty-eight years. She 
was a woman of strong character and intelligence, 
able and glad to second her husband's public labors. 
When Burgoyne's army was advancing southward, 
she went to Saratoga and with her own hands applied 
the torch to the fields of growing grain in order that 
they should not afford sustenance to the enemy. She 
died In 1803, and Schuyler wrote of his bereavement 
to Hamilton : "Every letter of yours affords a means 
of consolation ; and I am aware that nothing tends so 
much to the alleviation of distress as the personal 
intercourse of a sincere friend, and the endearing at- 
tentions of children. I shall, therefore, delay no 

267 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

longer than Is indispensably necessary, my visit to 
you. My trial has been severe. I shall attempt to 
sustain it with fortitude. I have, I hope, succeeded 
in a degree, but after giving and receiving, for nearly 
half a century, a series of mutual evidences of an 
affection and of a friendship which increased as we 
advanced in life, the shock was great and sensibly felt, 
to be thus suddenly deprived of a beloved wife, the 
mother of my children, and the soothing companion 
of my declining days. But as I kiss the rod with 
humility, the Being that inflicts the stroke will enable 
me to sustain the smart, and progressively restore 
peace to a wounded heart; and will make you, my 
Eliza and my other children, the Instruments of con- 
solation." 

Schuyler's affection for Hamilton could not have 
been greater had the latter been his own son. The 
news of the fatal result of the duel July 12, 1804, 
reached him in Albany when he himself was very ill. 
In this calamity he wrote to his daughter: 

"My Dear, Dearly Beloved and Affectionate 
Child: This morning Mr. Church's letter has an- 
nounced to me the severe affliction which it has 
pleased the Supreme Being to Inflict on you, on me 
and on all dear to us. If aught, under Heaven, could 
aggravate the aflllctlon I experience, it is that, inca- 
pable of moving or being moved, I can not fly to you 
to pour the balm of comfort Into your afflicted bosom, 
to water it with my tears, and to receive yours on 

268 



DEATH OF HAMILTON 

mine. In this distressing situation — under the pres- 
sure of this most severe calamity, let us seek consola- 
tion from that source where it can only be truly found, 
in humble resignation to the will of Heaven. Oh, 
my beloved child, let us unanimously entreat the 
Supreme Being to give you fortitude to support the 
affliction, to preserve you to me, to your dear children 
and relations. Should it please God so far to restore 
my strength as to enable me to go to you, I shall 
embrace the first moment to do it; but, should It be 
otherwise, I entreat you, my beloved child, to come to 
me as soon as you possibly can, with my dear grand- 
children. Your sisters will accompany you. May 
Almighty God bless and protect you, and pour the 
balm of consolation Into your distressed soul is, and 
will always be, the prayer of your affectionate and dis- 
tressed parent." 

And four days later he wrote his eldest daughter, 
Mrs. Church, who was with Mrs. Hamilton: "The 
dreadful calamity, my dearly beloved child, which we 
have all sustained, affected me so deeply as to threaten 
serious results; but when I received the account of his 
Christian resignation, my afflicted soul was much tran- 
quilized. Oh, may Heaven indulgently extend forti- 
tude to my afflicted, my distressed, my beloved Eliza. 
I trust that the Supreme Being will prolong my life, 
that I may discharge the duties of a father to my dear 
child and her dear children. My wounds bear a 

269 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

favorable aspect, and the paroxysms of the gout have 
not been severe for the last two days. Yesterday I 
was able to sit up all the day. God grant that my 
recovery may be accelerated to enable me to go to 
New York and embrace my distressed children. 
Should, however, my restoration be retarded, I wish to 
see you all here. The change of scene, may, perhaps 
tend to soothe my beloved Eliza and children. She 
knows how tenderly I loved my dear Hamilton ; how 
tenderly I love her and my dear children ; that I feel 
all the duties that are devolved on me. The evening 
of my days will be passed in the pleasing occupation 
of administering comfort and relief to a child and 
grandchildren so highly entitled to my best exertions." 
The strong affections which appear in these family 
letters were extended by Schuyler to his friends. His 
correspondence with Washington, John Jay, James 
Duane, William Smith, Jr., and others with whom he 
was closely associated give evidence on both sides of 
feelings deeper than ordinary friendship and regard. 
Dangers and difficulties courageously faced bring men 
close together. In 1784 Washington wrote him from 
Mount Vernon: "In recollecting the vicissitudes of 
fortune we have experienced and the difficulties we 
have surmounted, I shall always call to mind the great 
assistance I have frequently received from you, both 
in your public and private character. May the bless- 
ings of Peace amply reward your exertions. May 
you and your family long continue to enjoy every 

270 



CAREER AND CHARACTER 

species of happiness this world can afford. With 
sentiments of sincere esteem, attachment and affec- 
tion." 

Schuyler survived the death of his wife and of 
Hamilton but a short time. He died on the i8th of 
November, 1804, in his seventy-first year. His ca- 
reer, honorable to himself, useful to the community 
in which his lot was cast, and to the nation which he 
helped to found, owed its success to sterling qualities 
of head and heart. Without genius, without extraor- 
dinary talent in any particular, he had that combina- 
tion of ability and character which makes a trusted 
leader. A genuine love of country lay at the base of 
all his public actions. The fair land which his ances- 
cestors had travelled so far and worked so hard to 
possess, he rejoiced in possessing and in improving. 
The noble river, which attracted the affection of his 
earliest youth and was nearly concerned in all the in- 
terests of his later life; the forests and lakes and 
waterways of the interior, beautiful to him as they 
stood in their wildness and inviting to a development 
of infinite value; his neighbors the Indians for whom 
he felt an hereditary interest and responsibility — all 
these were real and deep sources of attachment to the 
country of his birth. But beyond the advantages of 
beautiful and fertile lands, he valued the higher bless- 
ings of an enlightened liberty, of political rights, of a 
just and stable government. For the security of these 
blessings, he unhesitatingly placed his life and prop- 

271 



LIFE OF GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER 

erty In jeopardy, and bore with magnanimity a cruel 
injustice. He labored long and unselfishly not only 
to preserve them from foreign attack, but to establish 
them on the enduring foundation of the Constitution 
of the United States. 



273 



INDEX 



Abercrombie, Gen., 31, 62, 193. 

Ackland, Maj., 179. 

Adams, John, 186. 

Adams, Samuel, 187. 

Addison, 23, 41. 

Albany, 6. 

Alexander, William, 38. 

Alsop, John, 80, 84. 

Amherst, Gen., 31, 65. 

Andros, Gov., 17. 

Arnold, Benedict, 115, 118, 120, 

131, 191, 202, 219. 
Auchmuty, Dr., 80. 

Baker, Capt., 116. 
Balcarres, Maj., 179. 
Bancroft, George, 200, 230, 251. 
Banyer, Goldsborough, 261. 
Barclay, Rev. Henry, ZT- 
Barre, Col., 120. 
Battery, The, 3. 
Bayard family, 17. 
Bayard, Stephen N., 261. 
Bayard, William, "jG. 
Beauvais, 29. 
Beeckman family, 17. 
Bennington, battle of, 74, 212, 

215- 

Benson, Egbert, 98, 240. 
Bernier, 52, 54. 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 146. 
Bowling Green, tj. 
Bleecker, 2)^. 
Braddocic, Gen., 44. 
Bradstreet, Gen. John, 55, 62,65. 
Brant, 46, 215. 
Brownson, Mr., 159. 
Burgoyne, Gen., 172, 175, 176, 

178, 182, 196, 209, 241. 
Burke, Edmund, 80, 120, 180. 
Burke, Mr., 159, 167. 
Burr, Aaron, 257, 



Caffieres, II9, 

Callieres, 25. 

Canals, 261. 

Carleton, Gen., 118, 131, 169. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 176. 

Carroll, Charles, 143. 

Chastellux, Marquis de, 68, 241. 

Chatham, Lord, 120. 

Cheeseman, Col., 118. 

Church, Mrs., 269. 

Claverack, 13. 

Clinton, George, 84, 90, 249, 250, 

255, 256. 
Clymer, Mr., 151, 159. 
Colden, Gov., 74, 83. 
Corlear, 11. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 38. 
Crown Point, 45, 48, 147. 
Cruger, John, 76, 80, 84. 
Cuyler, 36. 

Damas, Comte de, 68. 

Dayton, Col., 127. 

Deane, Silas, 109. 

De Laet, Johanna, 21. 

De Lancey family, 17, 80. 

De Lancey, James, 44, 45, So. 

De Lancey, John, 80. 

De Peyster family, 17. 

Derby, Earl of, 176. 

Dieskau, Baron, 48, 49, 53, 54. 

Dinwiddie, Gov., 51. 

Douw, V. P., 125. 

Duane, James, 71, 84, 159, \.fli, 

224, 255. 
Duer, William, 159, 165. 
Dyson, Jerry, 166. 



Ellery, Mr., 159. 
Elmer, Mr,, 159. 



273 



INDEX 



Fermoy, Gen. de, 173. 
Flatts, The, 20. 30. 
Fort Anne, 196, 206. 
Fort Edward, 196, 206. 
Fort George, 196, 206. 
Fort Miller, 207. 
Fort Saratoga, 207. 
Fort Stillwater, 207. 
Fort Stanwix, 219. 
Fox, Charles James, 71, 120. 
Francis, Turbutt, 125. 
Franklin, Benjamin, I7, 82. 
Fraser, Gen., 179, 194, 195, 206. 
Frontenac, 19, 61. 

Gage, Gen., 59. 

Gansevoort, Peter, 216, 218. 

Gates, Gen., career of, 137; 
intrigues of, 137; appointed 
to command of army in Can- 
ada, 139; conflict of author- 
ity, 140; continues intrigues, 
142; leaves Washington in 
New Jersey to seek favor of 
delegates in Congress, 152, 
153; appointed to command, 
158; defeat of his party, 
160; conduct at Albany, 161; 
correspondence with dele- 
gates, 161, 162; defeat of his 
projects, 164; his conduct at 
Albany, 164; his appeal to 
Congress, 165 ; his neglect of 
Ticonderoga, 171, 186, 190, 
193 ; is appointed to com- 
mand northern department, 
223 ; his character, 232 ; his 
military operations, 237. 

George III., 176. 

Germaine, Lord George, 178. 

Gerry, Elbridge, 143. 

Glover, Gen., 205. 

Government House, 3. 

Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, 28, 61. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 82, 252, 

253, 254, 255, 256. 
Hampden, John, 38. 
Hampshire Grants, 74. 
Harrison, Col., 167. 



Hawley, Joseph, 125. 

Hay, Col., 184. 

Hayward, Mr., 159. 

Hazen, Gen., 139. 

Hendrick, 47. 

Herkimer, Nicholas, 175, 183, 

216. 
Hinman, Col., 108. 
Hobart, John S., 240, 255. 
Holland, Lord, 71. 
Howe, Gen., 31, 59, 173, 177, 

182. 
Howe, Lord, 59. 
Howe, Richard, 59. 
Hunt, L. L., III. 

Jauncey, James, 80. 

Jay, John, 15, 34, 84, 98, 185, 

224, 243, 249, 255, 257. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 82. 
Johnson, Guy, 98, 144, 
Johnson, Sir John^ 98, 124, 

126, 127, 172, 175, 177, 215. 
Johnson, Sir William, 23, 35, 

45, 46, 48. 55, 124. 
Toncaire, 23. 
Jones, Dr. John, 38. 
Jones, Samuel, 255. 

K-ennedy, Archibald, 77. 
King, Rufus, 257. 
King's Arms, 37. 
Kirkland, Dr., 58. 
Koorn, Nicholas, 12. 

Lafayette, Gen., 17, 68. 
Lansing, John, Jr., 36, 255. 
Lansing, Philip, 44. 
La Prairie, 25. 
Lauzun, 68. 

Lee, Charles, 59, 93, 94. 
Lewis, Francis, 84. 
Lewis, Morgan, 245. 
Lincoln, Gen., 202, 213. 
Lispenard, Leonard, 76. 
Livingston, Edward, 18. 
Livingston, Henry B., 238. 
Livingston, Kitty, 41. 
Livingston Manor, 18. 
Livingston, Peter R., 80. 



74 



INDEX 



Livingston, P. V. B., 38. 
Livingston, Philip, 18, 40, y6, 

ISP- 
Livingston, Robert, 17, 81. 
Livingston, Robert R., 18, 38, 

76, 240, 255. 
Livingston, Walter, 104, 140. 
Livingston, William, 18, 2>7, 38, 

76, 79- 
Lockwood, James, 109. 
Long House, The, 35. 
Loockermans, Govert, 12. 
Lovell, James, 159, 161, 163, 

164. 
Low, Isaac, 80, 84. 
Luzerne, 17. 
Lyman, Gen., 47, 51, 
Lynch, Thomas, 119. 

Macdougall, Alexander, 76. 
McCrea, Jeanie, 210. 
McPherson, Col., 118. 
Manduit, Chev. de, 69, 
Manors, Hudson River, 9. 
Marin, 28. 
Middleton, Mr., 167. 
Militia, The, 116, 117, 121, 194, 

200, 211, 225, 227, 228, 230. 
Mohawk Chiefs, 23. 
Montcalm, 30, 35, 61. 
Montgomery, Gen., 81, 88, 95, 

no, 117, 118, 119, 121. 
Moore, Gov., 71. 
Morris, Gouverneur, 201, 224, 

226. 
Morris, Lewis, 84, 226. 
Morris, Richard, 255. 
Morris, Robert, 135, 246. 

Nassau Hall, 95. 

New York City, 3, 5, 37, 38, 39. 

New York, province of, 2. 

Nixon, Gen., 195. 

Noailles. Vicomte de, 68. 

North, Lord, 120, 

Noyau, 62. 



Oriskany, 216. 
Oswego, 61. 



Paca, William, 165, 166. 
Page, Mr., 159. 
Parkman, Francis, 22. 
Parties in New York, 82. 
Patroonships, 10, 14. 
Patterson, Gen., 173. 
Peters, Hugh, 38. 
Philipse, Eva, 15. 
Philipse, Frederick, 15, 80. 
PhiHpse Manor, 15. 
Philipsburg, 15. 
Phillips, Gen., 179, 188. 
Pitt, William, 43. 
Poor, Gen., 173. 
Putnam, Israel, 30, 44, 59, 135, 
184. 

Quider, 27. 

Rensselaerwyck, 10, 12, 13. 
Riedesel, Gen., 194, 195. 
Riedesel, Mme., 239, 240. 
Rochambeau, 17. 

Saratoga, battle of, 235, 237; 

Schuyler's estate at, 72, 265. 
Schuyler, Alyda, 18. 
Schuyler, Arent, 29. 
Schuyler, Aunt, 31. 
Schuyler, Brandt, 21, 30. 
Schuyler cemetery, 31. 
Schuyler, Elizabeth, 252. 
Schuyler family, 20 et seq. 
Schuyler, Gertruyd, 15. 
Schuyler, George L.,'241. 
Schuyler, Johannes, 28. 
Schuyler, Johannes, Jr., 32. 
Schuyler, John Bradstreet, 165. 
Schuyler, Margaret, 246. 
Schuyler, Peter, 22, 24, 45. 
Schuyler, Col. Peter, 29, 30. 
Schuyler, Philip Pieterse, 20, 

21. 
Schuyler, Philip, 28, 29. 
Schuyler, Philip, Jr., 241. 
Schuyler, Mrs. Philip, 42, 53, 

54, 267. 
Schuyler, General Philip, birth, 

32; youth, 2,2)', education, 2,3', 

mathematical taste, ZZ ', early 



275 



INDEX 



Schuyler, General Philip — Con- 
tinued. 

life at Albany, 35; visit to 
New York, 40 ; comes of age, 
42; in the French and Indian 
war, 52, S3, 56, 59, 63; kind- 
ness to French prisoners, 54, 
58; marries, 53; accompanies 
General Bradstreet, 62; visit 
to England, 65 ; House at 
Albany, 67, 68; business en- 
terprise, 70; his property, 70, 
72; knowledge of Indians, 
71 ; and the Hampshire 
Grants, 75 ; member of pro- 
vincial assembly, 76, 80, 83 ; 
member of Continental Con- 
gress, 84; views on the revo- 
lution, 85 ; appointed major- 
general, 91; in command cf 
northern department, 97; ex- 
pedition to Canada, 102, 103, 
106; illness, 113 ; wishes to re- 
sign, 123 ; appointed Indian 
commissioner, 125 ; moves 
against Tories and Johnsons, 
126 ; efforts to relieve army in 
Canada, 129; attacks upon his 
character, 132; New England 
hostility to, 135, 136; conflict 
with Gates, 142; goes to 
Crown Point with Gates, 144; 
removes troops to Ticonde- 
roga, 147; criticism of this 
action, 148; Congress refuses 
to accept his resignation, 149; 
ill-treatment by Congress, 
150; intrigues of Gates 
against him, 153; his letter to 
Congress which gave offence, 
ISS. 156; action of Congress 
on the letter, 156, 158, 160; 
goes to Philadelphia, 158; 
vindication in Congress, 160; 
returns to Albany and pre- 
pares for invasion from Can- 
ada, 169, 171 ; at Ticonderoga, 
'^73', protects the western 
frontier, 175 ; hears of Bur- 
goyne's invasion, iSi; evacu- 



Schuyler, General Philip — Con- 
tinued. 

ation of Ticonderoga, 184; 
establishes headquarters at 
Fort Edward, 184, 195 ; meas- 
ures for defence, 196, 198, 
203 ; relieves Fort Stanwix, 
219; his military position in 
contrast to Burgoyne's, 220, 
222; is superseded by Gates, 
223 ; cause of this action by 
Congress, 223, 224; his con- 
duct at this juncture, 233, 
234; meeting with Burgoyne, 
238; hospitality to Burgoyne 
and to Mme. Riedesel, 239; 
applies for court martial, 
242 ; is acquitted, 243 ; resigns 
from army, 243 ; other public 
services in revolution, 244, 
246; attempt to capture him, 
246; in New York political 
life, 249, 253 ; supports United 
States Constitution, 254; in 
United States Senate, 257; 
part in development of New 
York, 259; in canal system, 
261 ; relations with Indians, 
263 ; domestic life, 264 ; death, 
271. 

Schuyler house at Albany, 67. 

Scott, Gen., 150. 

Scott, John Morin, 38, 77, 78, 
249. 

Seven Years' War, 42. 

Shelburne, Lord, 178. 

Sherman, Roger, 82, 165, 166, 
167. 

Six Nations, the, 19. 

Smith, Cotton Mather, 72, 108. 

Smith, Melancthon, 255. 

Smith, William, Jr., 37, 38, 71, 

159- 
Smith, Wm. Peartree, 38. 
Stamp Act, 77. 
Stark, Gen., 44, 59, 139, 213. 
Steele, Richard, 23, 41. 
Stevens, Gen., 190. 
Stockton, Mr., 151. 
Stouppe, Rev. Mr., 33. 



Z76 



INDEX 



Stringer, Dr., I54- 

Strong, Zebediah, 104. 

St. Clair, Gen., 158, 172, 184, 

185, 187, 192, 194. 
St. Leger, Col., 215, 216, 219. 
St. Peter's Church, Albany, 61. 
St. Pierre, 51. 
Stuyvesant, P., 12. 
Sullivan, Gen., 131, 138, 139, 

145- 
Sykes, Mr., 159. 

Ten Broeck, Abram, 36, 40, 80. 

Ten Eyck, 36. 

Theatre in New York, 40. 

Thornton, Mr., 159. 

Ticonderoga. 173, 174; evacuat- 
ed, 183 ; taken, 188, 190. 

Trumbull, John, 144, 155, 156, 
189, 242. 

Trumbull, Jonathan, Jr., 135. 

Trumbull, Joseph, 143, 154, 155, 
156. 

Tryon, Gov., 71, 83. 

Valrenne, 25. 

Van Brugh, ^6. 

Van Corlear, Arent, 11. 

Van Cortlandt, Cornelia, 17, 21. 

Van Cortlandt family, 15, 16. 

Van Cortlandt, Jacobus, 15. 

Van Cortlandt Manor, 16. 

Van Cortlandt, Oloff Stevense, 

14. 
Van Cortlandt, Pierre, 17, 80, 

184, 250. 
Van Cortlandt, Stephanus, 15, 

16, 21. 
Van Home, David, 38. 



Van Rensselaer family, 9, 11, 

13- 
Van Rensselaer, Hendrick, 13. 
Van Rensselaer, Jeremias, 12, 

13- 
Van Rensselaer, John, 71. 
Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen, 11. 13. 
Van Rensselaer, Nicholas, 18. 
Van Schaack, Henry, 44. 
Van Schlechtenhorst, 12, 20. 
Villiers, Coulon de, 56. 
Varick, Col., 159. 
Vaudreuil, 56, 62. 

Walton, Jacob, 80. 
Warner, Gen.. 207. 
Warren, Sir Peter, 41, 45. 
Washington, George, 42, 93, 

173, 182, 185, 199, 202, 205, 

207, 227, 270. 
Waterbury, David, 100. 
Watson, Elkanah, 261. 
Watts, Jack, 41. 
Watts, Miss, 45. 
Wayne, Col., 191. 
Wentworth, Gov., 74. 
Westminster Abbey, 61. 
Whig Club, :-i7. 
Whitefield, George, 17. 
Wilkinson, Col., 164. 
Williams, Ephraim, 47, 5a 
Williams, W.. 156. 
Winthrop, John, Jr., 28. 
Wolcott, Oliver, 125, 159. 
Wolfe, Gen., 43, 63. 
Wooster, Gen., 100, 130, 131. 
Wynkoop, Capt., 41. 

Yates, Robert, 240, 255, 256. 
York, Duke of, 17. 



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